2022 LSU Gumbo - Book - Page 54
Photos by Georgia Jones & Chynna McClinton
While the LSU women’s basketball team may not have
succeeded in completing its goal of winning a national
championship this season, Kim Mulkey and her team’s hard
work in her first year at the helm did not go unnoticed.
Mulkey was named the Associated Press’ National Coach of
the Year for Division I Women’s Basketball.
It is the third Coach of the Year award in her coaching
career. She takes home the award despite losing out on SEC
Coach of the Year to South Carolina Head Coach Dawn
Staley.
When Mulkey arrived at LSU, many were expecting
change and big strides out of the women’s basketball
program, but few expected it to happen so quickly. The
turnaround brought a brand new energy to the program,
from the play on the court to support from the fans. The
PMAC drew huge crowds for games down the stretch,
creating an atmosphere around the program that had not
been seen in years.
Mulkey’s Tigers went 26-6 in her inaugural season,
finishing ninth in the last AP poll of the year and second
in the SEC. This comes off the heels of a 9-13 season last
year with much of the core remaining from Nikki Fargas’
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last team in star point guard Khayla Pointer, center Faustine
Aifuwa and shooting guard Jailin Cherry.
Mulkey was lauded throughout the season for her
ability to turn around the program while using many of the
current players already on the roster when she arrived.
Mulkey was also a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the
Year Award, though that award was also given to Staley of
South Carolina.
LSU was defeated by Ohio State in the second round of
the NCAA tournament in the PMAC, 79-64, after being
ranked a No. 3 seed by the committee. Pointer, Aifuwa
and Cherry have all entered their names in the upcoming
WNBA draft. A small rebuild may be on Mulkey’s hands
in the upcoming season, but that does not take away from
what she was able to accomplish in her first year. Mulkey
has even warned fans about a potential small rebuild,
noting the amount of production that is leaving the team
this offseason.
However, Mulkey established a foundation to build on
for LSU women’s basketball in the coming years, and that
was enough to earn her recognition from the Associated
Press.