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LSU head coach Kim Mulkey is not retiring.

That was the biggest takeaway in the aftermath of the Tigers’ 87-85 buzzer-beater loss to Duke on Friday night. When Mulkey was asked about rumors that she may be ready to hang it up, she wasted no time in adamantly denying them.

“I’m not retiring,” Mulkey said. “I don’t know where that came from. I’m only 63, and I’m healthy with a few stents in my heart; my doctors say I’m good to go. I have no clue where that stuff comes from. I’ve never, ever told anybody that.”

The 63-year-old Mulkey sounded frustrated by the rumors and the notion that “people can just write crap on social media” without proper intel. She said she intended to take the offseason to hire two coaches — former assistant Gary Redus just took the head-coaching job at Rutgers, and Daphne Mitchell went with him — while continuing to add players to LSU’s roster via the transfer portal and taking time off to visit her grandchildren. Then it’s right back to the grind.

“There is no retiring,” she doubled down. “I think that’s used a lot in recruiting. I think as we get older as coaches, they want to say, ‘Well, how much longer is she going to be in the game?’ I’m gonna be in this game unless LSU fires me (or) until I can’t put a product on the floor that’s competitive or my health fails me.

“It’s just a flat-out lie.”

Mulkey, who began at LSU ahead of the 2021-2022 season, is one of the most decorated coaches in the sport. She has won four national championships, three with Baylor and one with LSU in 2022-23. She is also the only person in the history of college basketball to win titles as a player, assistant coach and head coach.

The Tigers, who were bounced in the Elite Eight in each of the past two seasons, made an earlier exit than expected this year with the Sweet 16 loss to the Blue Devils. Friday marked the end of star guard Flau’jae Johnson’s decorated career with the program, but Mulkey isn’t going anywhere.

“Y’all make sure you put that out there,” she said once more, tripling down on her comments. “Not retiring.”