Kim Mulkey has quickly become a fan favorite in Baton Rouge after the success of LSU women’s basketball this season. The Tigers have strung together an impressive regular season record of 25-4 under Coach Mulkey, only losing two out of 16 home games and two out of nine away games and combining for a total win percentage of 83.3%.
In 2021, the Tigers finished 9-13, making the comeback to a 25-4 regular season record the largest turnaround by a first-year coach in SEC history. Mulkey has been recognized as a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award.
The Naismith Coach of the Year award was last taken home by Mulkey in 2012, but she has won the AP College Basketball Coach of the Year twice, the USBWA National Coach of the Year three times, the WBCA National Coach of the Year twice and the Big 12 Coach of the Year a whopping seven times.
Mulkey started her coaching career in 1985 as an assistant coach at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech. Mulkey also played point guard for the Bulldogs in all four years of college from 1980 to 1984. After spending 20 total years with the program, Mulkey took her talents to Waco, Texas, home of the Baylor Bears.
Mulkey sharpened her already impressive resumé by leading the Bears to post-season play in each of the 21 seasons she coached. In the 21 years Mulkey led the Bears, they finished No. 1 in their conference for 12 of those seasons and they are currently on an 11-year streak. She led Baylor to three national championships in 2005, 2012 and 2019. Mulkey also won two national championships as a player for Louisiana Tech, the AIAW Title in 1981 and the inaugural NCAA Title in 1982. She leads the charge for women empowerment in the sports world through her courageous attitude.
Another impressive jewel in the crown of the Queen of the Bayou is her induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame. Mulkey was inducted by Michael Jordan during the class of 2020 ceremony.
Despite her fiery personality, she is one of the most down-to-earth coaches in college basketball. Freshman forward Amani Bartlett has been inspired by her coach due to her desire to impact her players personally.
“She motivates us every day, she’s helped me gain confidence and makes me believe in getting better every day,” Bartlett said.
Mulkey has always been driven to growing the members of her team as a person rather than just as a player. She has always been driven to keeping her word with her players and by making sure she is constantly looking out for them.
“As a coach don’t ever forget to take care of your players, and in college don’t forget to graduate those players,” Mulkey said during her 2020 Hall of Fame speech. ”You can’t promise them championships, you can’t promise them that they will be drafted, but the one thing you can promise them when you sit in their home is that you can send them home with a degree in their hand.”
LSU women’s basketball has taken the SEC by storm this season, climbing up to a No. 2 conference ranking to finish the year. The Tigers are heading to the NCAA Tournament, and LSU is holding a viewing party to witness the tournament seed selection. The viewing party is at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 13, in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
