Carolyn Ashley never calls or texts Kim Mulkey first. They developed this routine as Mulkey ascended from the pig-tailed point guard from Tickfaw that Ashley met at Louisiana Tech in 1980.
The demands on Mulkey’s timebeing what they are, Ashley found it best to work around the Baylor coach'sschedule.
Few know Mulkey like Ashley, a loyal blue Lady Techster fan since the program's inception. Ashley and her husband, Charles, became part of Mulkey's extended family in those early years, sitting behind the home bench at old Memorial Gym, and later the Thomas Assembly Center.
While packing for a weekend trip to in Waco, Ashley received a text from Mulkey last Thursday that LSU women’s basketball coach Nikki Fargas was resigning. Wonder who they’ll get, Ashley texted back.
She was floored by Mulkey’s response — I hope me.
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“I said, ‘Are you kidding me,’ ” Ashley said. “She said, ‘We’ll see.’ ”
Ashley, who lives in Delhi, left the next day and stopped in Monroe to pick up Billie Creed, another longtime Mulkey confidante, for the six-hour road trip. The plan was for a quiet weekend centered around a baby shower for Kim’s daughter Makenzie Fuller.
That changed before they ever reached the Texas border.
“Kim was sending us stuff the entire time,” Ashley said. “We listened to the radio interview she did in Baton Rouge and all the callers were saying LSU had to go get her. The whole time we were in Waco the phone was ringing off the hook.”
By the end of the week, LSU had lured Mulkey away with an eight-year contract worth $23.6 million in total compensation. UConn’s Geno Auriemma is the only women’s basketball coach making more money than Mulkey, who was paid $2.27 million per year at Baylor.
Mulkey’s introduction at LSU two days later hit all the marks. She hugged football coach Ed Orgeron — the only coach on campus with a higher salary. Kramer Robertson, Mulkey’s son and a former All-SEC shortstop for the Tigers, called the hire the toughest secret he’s ever kept.
Monroe businessman James Moore Jr., a former member of the LSU Board of Supervisors, called the hire a coup in women’s college basketball. Mulkey tutored Moore’s daughter, Beverly, as a private coach then recruited her to Tech while serving as legendary coach Leon Barmore's lead assistant.
When Beverly was in elementary school, Mulkey loaned her the gold medal she won in the 1984 Summer Olympics for show-and-tell.
“Kim has always said under the right circ*mstances she would like to come home,” Moore said. “The bigger thing in my mind was whether LSU would step up because that’s a big hire. You’re stepping up from where you were by committing to a Kim Mulkey and I take my hat off to LSU for making the hire.”
LSU hired Mulkey, 58,while embroiled in a federal investigation and $50 million lawsuit into alleged sexual misconduct in the football program and the athletics department. Mulkey was at Baylor during high-profile scandals in football and men’s basketball. In 2017, Mulkey apologized for controversial statements she made attempting to defend Baylor amid the football program’s sexual assault scandal.
“LSU could use some positive with everything going on right now and I can’t think of a better positive than Kim Mulkey,” Moore said.
For Mulkey’s following in North Louisiana, a loyal contingent that became Baylor fans after her falling out with Tech, their dual allegiances have shifted to the Lady Techstersand the Lady Tigers. Though her return home to Louisiana has opened some old wounds.
Mulkey was the choice to succeed Barmore in 2000, but then-Tech president Dan Reneau refused to offer the five-year deal that would help her reach 20 years in the Louisiana retirement system. Reneau later offered a fifth year in writing, but there was no going back.
She instead became the coach at Baylor, replacing Sonja Hogg, the matriarch of Tech women’s basketball and co-head coach alongside Barmore from 1982-85. Barmore retired for good following the 2002 season.
Since her departure, Mulkey and Tech have mended fences. She returned to her alma mater for the first time in 15 years to honor the 1994 NCAA runner-up Lady Techsters in 2015.
“A lot of LSU people think Tech people are upset about it, but Tech people love Kim and we’re happy for her,” Ashley said. “Kim turned down LSU to come play at Louisiana Tech and it’s not like we were competing with LSU for her this time.
“She was never coming back to Louisiana Tech and we all know that story.”
At Baylor, Mulkey’s Lady Bears modeled the public image Hogg crafted for the Lady Techsters. The presentation was first class and Mulkey spared no expense with her own wardrobe. On the court, Mulkey was all Barmore — brilliant and brash, compassionate and cruel, profound and petty.
The result:Three national championships. And a632-104 record for a .859 career win percentage for third in women's Division I coaching history behind only Auriemma and Barmore.
But no trait defines Mulkey like her loyalty. It’s principled and never all encompassing, reserved for those who followed her into every foxhole — whether perceived or otherwise.
After Creed’s husband David, the most diehard Lady Techster fan of them all, died last June, Mulkey insisted they take a vacation together. No wasn’t an acceptable answer, so Creedjoined Kim and Ashley at Orange Beach.
“Those people that are her friends and really know Kim, she considers them her family,” Creed said. “Fortunately for us, it’s a lot shorter drive to Baton Rouge than it is to Waco.”
Meanwhile in Baton Rouge, the buzz around the LSU women’s basketball is reaching levels unseen since fans packed the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to watch back-to-back Naismith Player of the Year Seimone Augustus.
The Lady Tigers reached five straight Final Fours from 2004-08, losing to eventual national champion Baylor in 2005. Mulkey sported a Lady Techster blue pantsuit in the title game.
“Someone told me in 48 hours, LSU had over 1,000 requests for season tickets,” Moore said. “We’ve got season tickets for the men’s program but we’re going to have to get in line like everyone else for women’s tickets.
“It’ll take some time, but I have no doubt Kim will be competing for national championships.”
Follow Adam Hunsucker on Twitter @adam_hunsucker
