LSU hires Baylor’s Kim Mulkey, three-time NCAA champion, as new women’s basketball coach

LSU has hired Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey to lead the Lady Tigers’ program, the team announced on Sunday.

Mulkey, a native of Tickfaw, La., played at Louisiana Tech from 1980-84, helping the team to an AIAW Tournament championship in 1981 and an NCAA Tournament championship in ’82. She also helped the team to a second national championship as an assistant coach in 1988. She took over Baylor’s program in 2000 and won NCAA Tournaments in 2005, ’12 and ’19, becoming the only person in college basketball history to lead programs to titles as a player, assistant and head coach.

“Kim Mulkey is a champion and a Hall of Famer, and we are thrilled to welcome her home,” LSU athletics director Scott Woodward said in a statement. “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.”

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Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades IV issued a statement confirming Mulkey’s move to LSU, thanking her for her 21 years in Waco, Texas:

“We are grateful for the more than two decades Kim Mulkey poured into building Baylor women’s basketball to one of the nation’s premier programs. Coach Mulkey’s sustained success is one of the most remarkable runs in college basketball history, and her accomplishments are worthy of the Naismith Hall of Fame induction she’ll experience later this year.”

Mulkey built Baylor into its current powerhouse status, leading the program to its first NCAA Tournament bid in just her second year as a head coach. She also led the Lady Bears to 11 Big 12 regular-season titles and 10 Big 12 Tournament titles. She led the Lady Bears to the Sweet 16 five times, the Elite Eight six times and the Final Four four times on top of her three national titles. Baylor appeared in the NCAA Women’s Tournament 19 times in her 21 season and won the NIT in her third year.

Mulkey was named college basketball Coach of the Year twice by The Associated Press (in 2012 and ’19), three times by the USBWA (2011, ’12 and ’19) and twice by the WBCA (2012 and ’19). She is a 2000 inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of fame and a 2020 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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