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Kim Mulkey talks emotions after LSU women's basketball tops La. Tech
- Story byThe Daily Advertiser
- Kim Mulkey talks emotions after LSU women's basketball tops La. Tech
NEW ORLEANS — In Kim Mulkey 's mind, she's still that girl with pig-tail hair.
When she was helping lead Louisiana Tech to a national championship in the early 1980s, her hairstyle became synonymous with her and how she played with game with grit, tenacity and flow. That royal Blue with red trim has lived in the annals of the Lady Techsters' program ever since.
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Mulkey, now the LSU women's basketball coach, spent this week preparing to face her alma mater in the Compete 4 Cause showcase inside the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
MORE LSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COVERAGE LSU women's basketball shakes off slow start to down Louisiana Tech
Before every game, LSU assistant coach Joe Schwartz builds out the team hype video to get the players ready for the upcoming opponent and game. In it, he included several clips of Mulkey pulling off a great pass and knocking down an elbow jumper in a big moment of a game.
As the team gathered around on the bus en route to the arena from its hotel, Mulkey got teary-eyed.
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"I was good until (LSU associate head coach) Bob Starkey gave a scouting report this week and he put some old pictures in there," Mulkey said after LSU's 87-61 victory over the Techsters. "I realized how many wrinkles I have and how gray I am now.
"In my mind, I'm still that pig-tailed girl. After seeing that, it was emotional. We got to the bus today and Joe is in charge of the hype video and I got a little teary-eyed because he included a lot of stuff from my playing days as well. And then you get over it."
Not only did Mulkey peer out onto the court and see that patented script letters spelling out Lady Techsters on her opponent's jerseys, but Brooke Stoehr stalked the opposing sideline. Stoehr played for former legendary Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore while Mulkey was an assistant for a couple of seasons at Tech before Mulkey took the job at Baylor.
Mulkey called Stoehr a "coach on the floor" during her playing days and that they share similar coaching styles because of playing for Barmore.
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"She understands the game. I'm just proud that they're in the mix to win their league. We have a lot of the same coaching things because we learned it from coach Barmore, that system up there," Mulkey said. "She's going to do good things this year."
Steohr, also a former point guard, experienced Mulkey's coaching. And the impact isn't lost of her of where Mulkey fits in Tech history.
"We both feel a passion and a love for this program," Stoehr said. "Kim is a huge piece of that tradition and history. Coach Barmore used to say not one person is bigger than this program. The program was here before us and it'll continue to be around long after we're gone.
"Kim spent 19 years of her life there in Ruston. She knows that every opportunity that she's had as a professional, and the same for me, came because we were able to be in that program and be around great coaches, great players, and how it developed us as women and leaders."
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LSU star junior guard Mikaylah Williams, a Louisiana native from Bossier City, knows the history of women's basketball in the state. She knew how important this game was to her coach and said that they team wanted it for her.
"We wanted to come into the game prepared and wanted to play hard for coach Mulkey," Williams said.
Mulkey's former head coach at Tech, Sonja Hogg, called current Louisiana Tech president Jim Henderson during the game. He relayed that to Mulkey after it.
Henderson watched Mulkey play in those pig tails more than 40 years ago. Saturday's matchup was a full-circle moment for Mulkey and many others in the stands.
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"I met the Louisiana Tech president, he came out on the floor with his wife and grown children and that meant a lot to me. He wasn't the president there when I was in school and the things he said to me.," Mulkey said. "He watched me play. Sonja Hogg called him during the game.
"Those type of things mean a great deal."
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey describes facing Louisiana Tech
