{"id":16440,"date":"2022-12-19T07:29:42","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T12:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=16440"},"modified":"2022-12-19T07:29:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T12:29:42","slug":"lsu-womens-basketball-coach-kim-mulkey-breaks-silence-on-brittney-griners-return-god-is-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2022\/12\/lsu-womens-basketball-coach-kim-mulkey-breaks-silence-on-brittney-griners-return-god-is-good","title":{"rendered":"LSU Women’s Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey Breaks Silence on Brittney Griner’s Return: “God is Good”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"brittney<\/a>
Lorie Shaull\/Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WNBA star\u00a0Brittney Griner has returned home\u00a0after spending nearly 10 months in a Russian prison following her arrest for bringing vape cartridges containing hashish oil through a Moscow airport.\u00a0Griner was freed from a Russian penal colony earlier this month in exchange for\u00a0Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.<\/p>\n

Griner\u2019s return to the U.S. sparked emotional reactions from the basketball community, including\u00a0Griner\u2019s college coach.\u00a0LSU head coach Kim Mulkey, who coached Griner at Baylor and won a national championship together in 2012, broke her silence on her former player.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod is good. Prayers are powerful,\u201d Mulkey told ESPN. \u201cBrittney is on her way home where she belongs. Our prayers remain with her and her family as they recover and heal together.\u201d Mulkey was asked about\u00a0Griner\u2019s detainment in September\u00a0as she had yet to speak on the situation.\u00a0\u201cAnd you won\u2019t,\u201d Mulkey responded when a reporter said he had yet to see a comment on Griner from the LSU head coach.<\/p>\n

Griner and Mulkey had a falling out in 2013 after Griner felt she was encouraged to keep quiet about her sexuality, according to ESPN. Griner pointed\u00a0toward Baylor\u2019s policies<\/a>\u00a0as to why she did not feel encouraged to speak on her sexuality and not toward Mulkey personally.<\/p>\n

Griner was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on Feb. 17 after Russian authorities said she had vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.\u00a0Griner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison.<\/p>\n

Brittney Griner departed a military medical facility in Texas last Friday. She returned home to Arizona, vowing in an Instagram post to play in the WNBA this season as she took another step in her reintegration into American life after her detention in Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels so good to be home! The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn,\u201d she\u00a0wrote in her\u00a0<\/strong>post<\/a>. \u201cI dug deep to keep my faith, and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.<\/p>\n

Griner, 32, said she was \u201cgrateful to each person who advocated for me\u201d and thanked the staff at the Texas military facility she briefly called home. She also remembered another foreign prisoner in Russia whose release could not be secured in the prisoner swap that secured her freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Biden, you brought me home, and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home, too,\u201d she said. \u201cI will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she boarded the plane, Griner was greeted by Phoenix Mercury GM Jim Pitman, team president Vince Kozar and teammate Diana Taurasi. They made a surprise appearance to welcome her home. Griner says she intends to play for the Phoenix Mercury this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WNBA star\u00a0Brittney Griner has returned home\u00a0after spending nearly 10 months in a Russian prison following her arrest for bringing vape cartridges containing hashish oil through a Moscow airport.\u00a0Griner was freed from a Russian penal colony earlier this month in exchange for\u00a0Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner\u2019s return to the U.S. sparked emotional reactions from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":16446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2444,4,2488],"tags":[3534],"class_list":["post-16440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","category-faith","category-sports","tag-brittney-griner"],"yoast_head":"\nLSU Women's Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey Breaks Silence on Brittney Griner's Return: "God is Good"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kim Mulkey, Brittney Griner's coach at LSU, broke her silence about Griner's return to the United States, saying that prayers are powerful.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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