Getty Image / Kevin C. Cox
LSU Women’s Basketball coach Kim Mulkey is quite the character. The basketball legend has been making news in the hoops world for over forty years as a player and a coach.
Mulkey starred during the heyday of Louisiana Tech Women’s Basketball in the early 1980s, and was the star player of their national championship teams in 1981 and 1982 before winning Olympic Gold in 1984. Then, she got her head coaching career started at Baylor in 2000, and turned the bears into one of the best programs in the country, winning national titles in 2005, 2012, and 2019, with the 2012 team, led by Brittney Griner, going a perfect 40-0.
Mulkey decided to take the job at LSU, 45 miles, from her childhood home, entering the 2021-2022 season in a move that shocked the basketball world. Since then, she’s picked up right where she left off, as LSU went 26-6 her first year before making the Sweet 16 this year.
She’s become a TikTok star lately, and has gained a ton of fans for her fiery nature on the sideline that can rival any coach, male or female, in any sport.
@astianmedia I’d run through a brick wall for this women. Thanks to @tailored_technique for the 🔥 footage #kimmulkey #lsu #lsubasketball #lsutigers #lsuladytigers #batonrouge #lousiana #basketball #nccabasketball ♬ Pretty Girls Walk – Big Boss Vette
@lea_ellsworth #lsu #lsuwomensbasketball #coachmulkey #kimmulkey #geauxtigers ♬ Girl on Fire – Alicia Keys
And, in Friday’s dramatic Sweet 16 win over Utah, she wore her wildest outfit yet, and you truly have to see it to believe it.
https://twitter.com/BrianStack153/status/1639404830304223232?s=20
What even is this? Naturally, the memes were out.
Kim mulkey is ready for wrestlemania pic.twitter.com/jYxmdcARJK
— fraser ramon (@SteveMerkle9) March 24, 2023
Kim mulkey told her team during the huddle we cannot lose while I’m wearing this
— Jessica Smetana (@jessica_smetana) March 24, 2023
Her players loved it, though.
"Look, we're from Louisiana. We like sparkles, we like diamonds, we like Mardi Gras, we like to eat and we like to party." @LSUwbkb @KimMulkey and her players talk about her colorful attire.
"This is probably her best fit." #LSU pic.twitter.com/NUwEskYJHR
— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) March 25, 2023
And, who knows, maybe it distracted Utah’s Jenna Johnson, who missed the game-tying and winning foul shots in embarrassing fashion to send LSU to the elite 8.
OH NO UTAH
SHE MISSES BOTH FREE THROWS pic.twitter.com/JVOe31I3zh
— Barstool Gambling (@stoolgambling) March 24, 2023
Mulkey will lead the Tigers into battle against the Cavinder twins and Miami on Sunday.