Ukrainian LSU basketball star QUITS after Kim Mulkey recruited Russian player and suggested duo could ‘end the war’
A returning star on the LSU women’s basketball team who hails from Ukraine has left Baton Rouge after head coach Kim Mulkey recruited a player from Russia.
Kate Koval, a junior from Kyiv, was set to be a key contributor to the Tigers in the 2026-27 season. However, she has now departed the basketball program after Mulkey brought in 17-year-old Russian center Anna Minaeva.
According to The Advocate, Mulkey informed Koval of her pursuit of the Russian teen in a private conversation – before naïvely and obtusely suggesting the two players could ‘be ‘ambassadors’ for kinship amid international conflict’ and could ‘even help end the war.’
Koval, whose father is a soldier in the Ukrainian military serving as a drone operator, left the program three days after Minaeva’s signing was announced.
In response to Mulkey’s point about ‘kinship’ and ‘ending the war,’ the coach said Koval ‘just kind of smiled and said, “I doubt that.”‘
‘Kate came to see me on Sunday and told me that after much consideration, she will be leaving the program for personal reasons,’ Mulkey said in a statement released Monday.
Ukrainian basketball player Kate Koval has left LSU after the team recruited a Russian player
Coaches at the school brought in 17-year-old Moscow freshman Anna Minaeva this season
LSU coach Kim Mulkey suggested pairing the two players could help ‘end the war’
‘We will respect her privacy on her decision, but we had a long talk about it, and it was a hard decision for her. I know it is hard because she loves LSU.
‘Kate is a great person. She has to do what she feels is right for her, and we fully support her in that. We all wish her the best.’
Prior to the signing of the 17-year-old Russian, Mulkey said that she and Koval sat in her car in a parking lot to have a discussion. If she stayed, Koval and Minaeva would have been the first pair of players from the two warring nations to star on the same team.
Recalling her conversation, Mulkey said she told Koval: ‘I want you to understand I’m not here to ask you to change how you feel about Russia. I’m just here out of respect for your family and out of respect for you to let you know. Because I know how personal it is for you.
‘Know that what I have to do in this business, I cannot make a decision to not recruit somebody that can help our program because of a conflict between two countries.’
Mulkey’s newest assistant, Fitzroy Anthony formerly of Miami, recruited Minaeva after an overseas contact sent over some film of the Russian center. The LSU coaching staff believes ‘she actually has the ability to be a (WNBA) draft pick.’
Mulkey told The Advocate she believed that Koval – who averaged 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds last season – and Minaeva could work together on the floor and that she wanted them to ‘pass the ball to each other.’
‘I love Kate,’ Mulkey said. “’ love her family, and I wanted them to know. I wanted her to know.
‘You want her to feel your compassion, and yet you don’t ask her to change her feelings. Her feelings are what they are. You just want her to know and be informed. That’s all.’
