For Seimone Augustus, it was the right time to come home to LSU

Kim Mulkey and Seimone Augustus took the stage on Thursday afternoon as part of the same team for the first time. Mulkey, the hall of fame head coach and Augustus the hall of fame player, are now on the same coaching staff at LSU as Mulkey and assistant coach Bob Starkey made it a priority to get Augustus on board after the retirement of Johnny Derrick, the director of women’s basketball operations

Derrick had been a part of Mulkey’s staff since she took over at Baylor, but now with a vacant spot, Mulkey wanted to add to the player development side of her program and bring back a Baton Rouge legend in the process.

“It’s a no-brainer. It’s just a matter of changing responsibilities because Johnny’s responsibilities were totally different from what Seimone’s will be,” Mulkey said. “We would not be doing this if Seimone could not be on the floor sharing her experiences. That’s what we spent a lot of time talking about – your role will not be what Johnny’s was and you’ll get to be on the floor and that was really important to her.”

For Augustus, this will be her first opportunity to truly dive into coaching. She spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons as an assistant coach on the Sparks, but it was more in an observatory capacity. Now, with Mulkey asking her to come back to Baton Rouge to pursue coaching, she could not pass it up.

“This is home,” Augustus said. “I’ve been away for almost 20 years, just coming in and out whenever I had time, but it was mostly about the opportunity,” Augustus said. “Coaching has continued to come back for me. This opportunity presented the best chance to gain experience. To grow, to fail, to succeed, and that’s what coaches do, sitting on the hot seat every day. I’m not on the hot seat, but getting to see how it goes everyday and seeing a team come together to accomplish a goal.

“I’ve only been here a few days and I’m right into it just like everyone else. Getting right to work.”

Augustus is one of the most accomplished women’s basketball players ever in college, the WNBA, internationally, and for team USA. Now, the challenge for this legendary player is to return to step one and learn what it takes to become a great coach.

“The opportunity to grow as a coach [is why I’m here],” Augustus said. “I told her, I’m trying to find my voice. I don’t talk loud or often, so that’s something I always thought about when I thought about coaching. It’s an identity thing for myself and this is a great opportunity to do that alongside a legendary coach that has been around for 20+ years. I played for coach Starkey and been able to see these great minds and how they help these young women accomplish their goals. Then, when she speaks about the WNBA or international play, it’s our job to get them there and keep them there. Hopefully I can instill that in some of them, with Aneesah, Flau’Jae and Mikaylah looking forward, we need more Tigers [in the WNBA].”

Mulkey continues to maintain an elite coaching staff with Augustus joining Bob Starkey, Gary Redus, and Daphne Mitchell, as well as other assistants. As Mulkey enters the final phase of her career, she insists on having young, vibrant personalities around her to keep pushing for more.

“Just her name brings such a positive in all aspects,” Mulkey said, “Anyone who follows this game knows who Seimone Augustus is. Seimone deserves this. We deserve this. Our state deserves this. Our state and our sport deserve this and this is her school. What you hope all your coaches do is learn, then as you learn and you want to go on and become a coach, don’t change, be who you are and take from who you learn from. I still learn every day from my coaches. If you become stagnant, you need to retire. Bob and I are the old ones now on staff, then look around us. We have young people around us and it keeps us in the right frame of mind. It’s a rewarding feeling when you bring someone back that is loved and respected as much as Seimone is and I can’t wait for our players to be with her and around her every day.”

This was not the first time Augustus was offered a position on Mulkey’s staff, but it was the right time, which mattered to Augustus. For a person who has accomplished as much as she has in her career, this is the perfect chance for her to grow as a coach, while also helping develop players on one of the best teams in the country. 

“Coach Mulkey reached out to me in her first year when she got here, but I was in the infancy stage of my coaching career and I knew she needed a staff that was ready to go with expectations really high,” Augustus said. “I respectfully declined, without knowing if this would ever come back around, but I’m a strong believer in what is for you will not pass you and she gave me the choice to come back and revisit. She also told me, ‘if you don’t accept this time I’m not coming back a third.’ but I’m definitely thankful it did come back around and I was in the right space to accept.”