Kim Mulkey on hiring Seimone Augustus: 'It's a no-brainer'

Last week LSU announced that they’d be adding former player and WNBA legend Seimone Augustus to their women’s basketball coaching staff ahead of head coach Kim Mulkey‘s fourth season with the Tigers.

Augustus’ No. 33 jersey is retired inside of Pete Maravich Assembly Center and a statue of her stands outside of the arena. As she’ll now occupy the sidelines as well moving forward with the LSU program. A hire that came after the retirement of assistant coach Johnny Derrick, who worked alongside Mulkey for 24 years dating back to her days at Baylor.

“When he came at the end of the season and said that he was definitely gonna retire I had a staff meeting with all my staff, and because I am not in the trenches like they are in recruiting and seeing who the up and coming coaches are, I asked each of them to give me suggestions,” Mulkey said. “And I think it took maybe seconds for Bob (Starkey) to speak up and he says we need Simone. And I asked him if he would reach out to her to see if there was an interest first before I called her.”

Augustus retired from the WNBA in 2021 after being a four-time WNBA Champion and an eight-time WNBA All-Star. And with Derrick’s official title being Assistant Athletic Director for Women’s Basketball Operations, she will serve in a different role in her return to The Bayou.

“It’s a no-brainer. It was just a matter of changing responsibilities because Johnny’s responsibilities were totally different than what Seimone’s will be. We would not be doing this if Seimone could not be on the floor sharing her knowledge and her experiences not just in college, but in the league, in the WNBA,” Mulkey explained.

“And so with the rules changing in our sport where we can now soon probably have six (coaches) on the floor and in August voting again where we can have the rest of the staff doing the limited roles on the floor, it was just great timing,” Mulkey added. “And so I think that’s what we spent a lot of time talking about is your role will not be what Johnny’s role was, here’s what I’d like you to do and I think that was really really important to her.”

The Tigers have made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances in three seasons with Mulkey, highlighted by a national title win two seasons ago and an Elite Eight appearance last season. But with the two-time Naismith Player of the Year, Wooden Award, and SEC Player of the Year winner now joining their staff, the Tigers may be able to take their game to an even higher level moving forward.