The Tigers coach is the only person in the women’s game to win a national title as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach.
SACRAMENTO — LSU coach Kim Mulkey fiercely denied that she was considering retirement after her team lost to Duke in the Sweet 16. “I’m not retiring. Do I look that bad?” the veteran coach told reporters on Friday.
“I don’t know where that came from. I’m only 63. And I’m healthy, with a few stents in my heart. Doctor says I’m good to go… As we get older, as coaches, they want to say,? I’m going to be in this game unless LSU fires me, O.K., until I can’t put a product on that floor that’s competitive, or my health fails me.” Mulkey is in her fifth season at LSU, where she won the national championship in 2023, finishing with trips to the Elite Eight in ’24 and ’25. She previously won three titles in 21 years at Baylor. Her staff is in a state of transition. Assistant coach Gary Redus II left earlier this month to become the head coach at Rutgers, and he brought along fellow LSU assistant Daphne Mitchell. Redus was well-known for his impact on recruiting.“I plan to hire two coaches quickly. I plan to get in the portal and get two or three more players and take a little time off, go see my grandchildren, who actually flew in and got in late and didn’t even see the game, but I’ll get to visit with them tonight in the hotel,” Mulkey said. “But there is no retiring.”and enter the WNBA draft. But most of this roster will be eligible to return next year. That includes leading scorer MiLaysia Fulwiley, a guard who comes off the bench and is one of the most electric players in the college game despite her inconsistency, and forward Mikaylah Williams, as well as underclassman core pieces like ZaKiyah Johnson and Jada Richard. Mulkey’s team lost to No. 3 seed Duke on a buzzer beater on Friday by a score of 87–85. “Nothing I say is going to make them feel better in the moment,” Mulkey said. “The sun will come up tomorrow and you’re going to have wonderful memories from your time at LSU. And then you go and you hug each one of them and you let them cry… I don’t find that a bad thing. If you don’t cry, you’re not really invested and you don’t care. And it’s O.K. to cry. It’s O.K. to hurt. And then each day it gets better.”“Put it out there,” said Mulkey, the only person in the women’s game to win a national title as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach. “Not retiring.”Emma Baccellieri is a staff writer who focuses on baseball and women's sports for Sports Illustrated. She previously wrote for Baseball Prospectus and Deadspin, and has appeared on BBC News, PBS NewsHour and MLB Network. Baccellieri has been honored with multiple awards from the Society of American Baseball Research, including the SABR Analytics Conference Research Award in historical analysis , McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award and SABR Analytics Conference Research Award in contemporary commentary . A graduate from Duke University, she’s also a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
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