Bob Starkey shares thoughts on Sue Gunter's name added to LSU's court

On Friday, the LSU Board of Supervisors voted to change the name of Dale Brown court to include former LSU women’s basketball coach Sue Gunter. The vote was passed 14-1 in favor of the motion. The board’s academic committee also approved the proposal by a 6-2 vote.

The decision was a reversal of the board’s vote in September 2021 when the court was named after Brown. The change came with an upheaval of questions and vocal frustrations. When women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey was asked about it before the vote, she said she would differ to her associate head coach Bob Starkey, who worked with both Brown and Gunter, for his opinion.

Starkey accompanied Mulkey to Tuesday afternoon’s press conference to take on the question about the court renaming head on. Here is what he had to say. His quote is broken up in to three parts for the reader.

Personal perspective

“Personally, I’m incredibly pleased and proud. I worked for bot Dale and Sue and they were very influential in my life and I know how influential they were on other peoples lives. I know the impact they made both on and off the court and I know when I walk out on the court and see their names side by side I’m going to swell up with pride. I’ll probably be emotional the first time. It’s special. I’m disappointed that it happened the way it happened. I feel bad for Dale because he got dragged through this because an overzealous supporter tried to go through the back end and circumvent the process, then coach Gunter’s supporters wanted to make sure she was recognized, so it got a little bit nasty, but the end result is right and fair. Both are incredibly deserving.” 

Sue’s impact

“Certainly, it’s been well chronicled everything Dale has accomplished on the court, which is phenomenal. Sometimes, what gets lost is what coach Gunter did because there wasn’t media coverage in those days. People didn’t have an appreciation unless you worked beside her and got things done. You’re talking about a pioneer. Go back to her playing days as an all-american and winning a championship. She went to Nashville and started a Middle Tennessee program. She’s the winningest head coach at Stephen F. Austin, then she came here and did what she did. She was an Olympic coach involved in USA Basketball for years. When Davis Stern was starting the WNBA, she was one of ten people flown to New York so they could figure out how they were going to start the league. The thing people will not understand is how hard it was to coach women’s basketball at LSU during that time when you had administration that didn’t care and sometimes created obstacles. A lot of people didn’t know because Sue was never one that screamed or hollered Title IV. She is an amazing lady for what she accomplished here. Some of the things we’re doing here are because of the seeds she planted. That is what a legacy is about. It’s not just doing something in the moment that is great, it’s doing something that will last.”

What Sue would have wanted

“I’ve heard a couple people say ‘Well I don’t think Sue would [do this]’ and let me explain this to you. Let me make this very clear. I knew Sue before I knew Dale. When she came and recruited my AAU player, I flew down here to see what it was all about and from that came a friendship. When I worked for Dale, all of our offices were on the same floor in the PMAC and there wasn’t a day when I didn’t stop and talk to her. We became friends and then I had the opportunity to work for her. I lived a half mile from her and my favorite parts were going to her house and sharing a glass of wine and talking about anything and everything. I was standing by her bed when she took her last breath. So I’m going to tell you what I think Sue Gunter would think. I think she’d be embarrassed by how big of a deal this ended up being. I think she’d be a little upset that the process was circumvented and wasn’t done fairly. But I also think she’d be incredibly proud and honored to have her name there. Not because it’s her name, but because it represents players, coaches, and the growth of women’s basketball at a place where it hadn’t been done before. Sue Gunter would be proud to have her name on the floor.”