Kim Mulkey returns to Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, La. (BVM) — One of college basketball’s greatest coaches is heading back home. Coach Kim Mulkey has left Baylor to become the head coach of the women’s basketball program at LSU.
Final Stop: Baton Rouge ✈️ @KimMulkey is headed Home! pic.twitter.com/z85nq0bpdj
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) April 26, 2021
Basketball School 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/9IhaGBMbLG
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) April 26, 2021
Coach Mulkey had been the head coach at Baylor for 21 years. In that time, she helped lead the Lady Bears to four Final Fours, winning three national championships. Her teams reached the Elite Eight six different times and reached the Sweet 16 five times as well. All in all, Mulkey helped the Lady Bears reach the NCAA Tournament 19 times in 20 years.
“Kim Mulkey is a champion and a Hall of Famer, and we are thrilled to welcome her home,” LSU athletic director Scott Woodward said in a press release. “Her accomplishments are unprecedented, her passion is unrivaled, and her commitment to winning in all aspects of life – in the classroom, on the court, and in the community – is unparalleled. We look forward to working with her as she instills that championship culture at LSU.”
But her success was hard-earned, and it all started in Louisiana.
Mulkey, a native of Tickfaw, La., attended Hammond High School, which is east of LSU, and helped lead her school to four straight state titles.
After her prep career, she continued her basketball career at Louisiana Tech University. There she had an overall record of 130-6 as a college player. She won one national championship and helped lead the Lady Techsters back to the championship the following year.
Mulkey averaged 6.4 assists and 1.6 steals. She still currently ranks second on Louisiana Tech’s all-time list in assists and is 12th in steals.
After her career ended as a player, Mulkey stuck around Louisiana Tech and was a part of the coaching staff for the next 15 years. During that stretch, she would have an overall record of 430-68.
Mulkey would then take over the Baylor head women’s coaching job. The year prior, 1999-00, the Lady Bears finished with a 7-20 overall record. In Mulkey’s first year, Baylor reached the NCAA Tournament.
Following a successful first year at Baylor, Kim Mulkey would help the Lady Bears capture a national championship in the 2004-05 season. The Lady Bears finished with a 33-3 overall record that year. Then following multiple appearances in the NCAA Tournament, Baylor would capture another national championship during the 2011-12 season, going 40-0. The Lady Bears would capture another national title during the 2018-19 season, going 37-1.
But this past season, the Baylor Lady Bears were knocked out by UConn in the Elite Eight. And that’s when Mulkey decided to leave Baylor and come back home to Louisiana.
“Many, many tears were shed,” Mulkey said in her introductory press conference. “All I could tell them [Baylor women’s basketball players] I was going home and that I love them and that I hope that they could understand and not be angry at me. But it’s just a feeling in my gut that it was time to go home.”
Mulkey finished with an overall record of 632-104 as Baylor’s head coach.
Louisiana’s Own. National Champions.
Welcome home, @KimMulkey!! pic.twitter.com/Wxn6csNwRW
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) April 26, 2021
“When you grow up, you don’t forget where you come from,” Mulkey said. “This state made us who we are today…It’s so unbelievably comfortable for me to come back to my roots. There’s only one institution I would have left for, and they made the commitment and I’m home.”
The LSU Tigers have not made it past the Sweet 16 since 2007. Coach Mulkey will look to change that.
“Look up at those banners. No where does it say, ‘National Champion,’” Mulkey said. “Give it time, but I can assure you, that’s what I came here to do.”
Please welcome home to the great state of Louisiana… Coach Kim Mulkey! pic.twitter.com/kCJjc7WcyX
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) April 27, 2021
