Kim Mulkey receives key to Baton Rouge after national championship
Kim Mulkey now has four national championship rings and one key to Baton Rouge to match.
During LSU‘s homecoming celebration inside Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Wednesday, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome awarded Mulkey with a key to the city for her efforts in leading the Tigers to the 2023 National Championship over Iowa.
“We already know you have the key to all of our hearts,” Broome said to Mulkey during LSU’s homecoming celebration. “We love you, we love this team. Go Tigers!”
Mulkey has brought more success to LSU in two short years than any coach has since the mid-2000s. She has a 60-8 overall record since leaving Baylor and taking over at LSU in 2021.
When she took over the Bears’ program in 2000, she turned a historically irrelevant brand and turned it into the premier college basketball program alongside UConn. That includes three national championships featuring the infamous 40-0 season that saw Mulkey’s Bears win the 2012 National Championship with star center Brittney Griner.
If these past two seasons are any indication, that won’t change in Baton Rouge. LSU will be a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future under Mulkey, who caught the basketball world by storm during March Madness with her unapologetic, to-the-point attitude — not to mention her nightly ostentatious attire.
“We’re national champions in year two and we’re not all seniors. We lose four outstanding seniors but the core of our group is young and underclass,” Mulkey said after winning the national championship. “And you hope they stay. Lord knows every time you turn around you’ve got to deal with people in the transfer portal. But we signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. And that was before we won a national championship.”
For LSU, now it’s all about retaining this success. Angel Reese will return for her junior season after averaging 23 points and 15.4 rebounds per game en route to becoming the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
Mulkey is also bringing in four freshmen including two five-star recruits in CG Mikaylah Williams and F Aalyah Del Rosario. Williams is considered the Consensus No. 1 women’s basketball recruit in the Class of 2023.
Mix the Reese, the two star freshmen and a couple of talented players from the portal, and it won’t matter who ends up leaving the program. Mulkey has her core and is poised to run it back during next year’s NCAA Tournament.