Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) is taking LSU’s women’s basketball team to task for their decision to walk off the floor before the playing of the national anthem Monday night in their Elite Eight matchup against Iowa.
Not only is Landry criticizing the team, but he is calling on Louisiana lawmakers to pass legislation that would strip athletes of their athletic scholarships for failing to be present for the playing of the anthem.
“My mother coached women’s high school basketball during the height of desegregation, no one has a greater respect for the sport and for Coach Mulkey,” Landry wrote on X. “However, above respect for that game is a deeper respect for those that serve to protect us and unite us under one flag!
Rep. Jeff Landry, R-La., and other 6 GOP freshmen announced that they wanted to return their surplus funds from the “Members Representational Allowance,” to pay down the national debt. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)
“It is time that all college boards, including Regent, put a policy in place that student athletes be present for the national anthem or risk their athletic scholarship! This is a matter of respect that all collegiate coaches should instill.”
After the game, when questioned about her team’s absence during the playing of the anthem, LSU coach Kim Mulkey said that the decision was not “intentional” but part of her team’s pregame “routine.”
“Honestly, I don’t even know when the anthem was played. We kind of a routine where we’re on the floor and then they come off at the 12-minute mark. I don’t know … we come in and we do our pregame stuff. I’m sorry … Listen, that’s nothing intentionally done.”
A Baton Rouge reporter said LSU is never on the court for the anthem.
Still, this explanation will likely not sit well with those who believe showing respect for the anthem should be more important than Kim Mulkey’s pregame “routine.”
It didn’t help the optics for LSU that their opponents, Iowa, stood respectfully for the anthem.
LSU lost to Iowa, 94-87.