After losing to the Iowa University Hawkeyes and ending their season without grabbing another national title, the Louisiana State University Lady Tigers have another problem on their hands.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is upset that they weren’t on the court Monday for the national anthem before they played the Hawkeyes. He even spoke to Fox News’ Sandra Smith of “America Reports” about it.
“I’m not calling out the players or Coach Mulkey,” the Republican governor told her, adding: “I think this is a bigger question – this is a bigger question for collegiate sports nationally, and in Louisiana.”
A statement from LSU cited by Fox explained that the school’s basketball teams have not been on the court for the National Anthem for multiple seasons, as they do final prep for the game in the locker room during that time. Coach Kim Mulkey said during a press conference that she didn’t know when the anthem was played.
“We kind of have a routine where we’re on the floor and they come off at the 12-minute mark,” she said. “We just – I don’t know – we come in and we do our pre-game stuff.”
In a Tuesday X post, Landry said that his mother “coached women’s high school basketball during the height of desegregation,” and that he has great respect for the coach who led LSU’s Lady Tigers to a championship win last year. However, he said that college boards should have a consistent policy about teams showing up for the national anthem during Elite Eight games.
Landry noted that the Iowa team was on the court for the anthem. Smith said that USC and UConn’s teams were also absent for the anthem.
“The National Anthem is as much a part of American sports as is the actual game that’s being played,” said the governor.
According to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted in 2021, 84% of Americans support the National Anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner” being played at sports games and 72% feel positive when the song plays. However, just 35% of Black Americans said they felt positive when the song played.