LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey opened her Saturday news conference with a prepared statement claiming she is ready to take legal action over a story The Washington Post is rumored to be planning to publish sometime during the women's NCAA Tournament.

The third-year Tigers coach blasted The Washington Post and an unnamed reporter supposedly working on the article, adding that she has hired a "defamation law firm" and is prepared to sue the news organization if it publishes a "false" story about her. Rumors began swirling on Friday — the first day of LSU's 2024 NCAA Tournament run — that the Post was going to publish a story with Mulkey at its center.

REQUIRED READING: Kim Mulkey has hired 'defamation law firm,' threatens to sue Washington Post on rumored article

A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment when reached by the USA TODAY Network.

Here's everything Mulkey said in her Saturday news conference regarding the Washington Post story:

Kim Mulkey news conference: What LSU coach said of Washington Post

Below is a transcript of Mulkey's opening news conference:

I wanted to publicly address what exactly this reporter for the The Washington Post has been doing the past several years, and the lengths he has gone to try to put a hit piece together. This reporter has been working on a story about me for two years.

After two years of trying to get me to sit with him for an interview, he contacts LSU on Tuesday as we were getting ready for the first-round game of this tournament with more than a dozen questions, demanding a response by Thursday right before we're scheduled to tip off. Are you kidding me?

This was a ridiculous deadline that LSU and I could not possibly meet, and the reporter knew it. It was just an attempt to prevent me from commenting, and an attempt to distract us from this tournament. It ain't going to work, buddy.

Unfortunately, this is part of a pattern that goes back years. I told this reporter two years ago that I didn't appreciate the hit job he wrote on (LSU football coach) Brian Kelly, and that's why I wasn't going to do an interview with him.

After that, the reporter called two former college coaches of mine and left multiple messages that he was 'with me' in Baton Rouge to get them to call him back, trying to trick these coaches into believing that I was working with The Washington Post on a story. When my former coaches spoke to him and found out that I wasn't talking with the reporter, they were just distraught, and they felt completely misled.

Former players have told me that The Washington Post has contacted them and offered to let them be anonymous in a story if they'll say negative things about me. The Washington Post has called former disgruntled players to get negative quotes to include in their story. They're ignoring the 40-plus years of positive stories that people — or they have heard from people about me.

But you see, reporters who give a megaphone to a one-sided, embellished version of things aren't trying to tell the truth. They're trying to sell newspapers and feed the click machine. This is exactly why people don't trust journalists and the media anymore. It's these kinds of sleazy tactics and hatchet jobs that people are just tired of.

I'm fed up, and I'm not going to let The Washington Post attack this university, this awesome team of young women I have, or me without a fight. I've hired the best defamation law firm in the country, and I will sue The Washington Post if they publish a false story about me.

Not many people are in a position to hold these kinds of journalists accountable, but I am, and I'll do it.That's all I'm going to say about this right now, and now I'm going to get back to talking about my basketball team and winning this game tomorrow.

Kim Mulkey video

Below is a video of Mulkey's statement, courtesy of LSU reporter Bryce Koon of 247Sports/CBS Sports.

The Advertiser sports reporter Cory Diaz contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Kim Mulkey statement: Everything LSU coach said about Washington Post story