LSU legend Seimone Augustus returns to Baton Rouge as she is set to join Kim Mulkey’s staff as an assistant coach, Mulkey announced Monday.
“It is an exciting day for the LSU Women’s Basketball program to bring Seimone Augustus back to join our staff,” Coach Mulkey said. “As a player at LSU, Seimone helped transform the program as the best player in the nation. She brought LSU to national prominence. She will be a tremendous member of our staff as someone with great experience who has excelled at every level of the game from high school in Baton Rouge to college to the WNBA to the Olympics. Her expertise in the game will benefit our team and allow our players the opportunity to learn from a Hall of Famer who has exhibited great class throughout her entire career.
“Competing against Seimone and watching her play professionally and internationally I was always impressed with her leadership and basketball IQ. Those are the intangibles I’m excited about her bringing to our program. She has experiences at the highest level of success that will allow her to be an outstanding mentor to our student-athletes.”
Augustus helped transform women’s basketball at LSU into a national powerhouse, appearing in three Final Fours during her four seasons. After college, Augustus went on to the WNBA and won Olympic Gold Medals. She will fill the spot on staff left by the retirement of Johnny Derrick.
“Life always guides you to where you belong,” Augustus said. “Thus, my path has led me home. Gracing me with an opportunity to further my coaching career within a program that I hold dearly. They say experience is the greatest teacher, I am truly excited about the knowledge and wisdom I will gain working alongside of legendary Coach Mulkey and reconnecting with my former coach, Coach Bob Starkey. A Fighting Tiger once more, I look forward to pouring into this generation of Lady Tigers. Once A Tiger, Always A Tiger. A new chapter begins. See you at the PMAC.”
The Baton Rouge native is the first female student-athlete in LSU’s history to have a statue on campus and was recently inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She is also set to enter the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.
“From coaching Seimone to watching her play professionally you could not help but be impressed with her basketball IQ,” associate head coach Bob Starkey said who was on staff at LSU during Augustus’ playing career. “I’ve always enjoyed our talks about basketball through the years and knew she’d be an outstanding coach. Now I’m so thankful our program and players will be able to benefit from her knowledge.”
Former LSU AD Skip Bertman called Augustus “the single most important recruit in the history of LSU Athletics” when he signed on April 30, 2002, at Capitol High School in Baton Rouge. Augustus would help change the LSU program forever and in turn, set herself up for prominent success beyond Baton Rouge.
During her freshman season, the Tigers went to the Elite Eight while Augustus garnered National Freshman of the Year honors for just the second time in program history. The following season, LSU went to the Final Four to start a historic five-year stretch of going to the Final Four.
As a junior, Augustus won the Naismith and Wooden Awards as National Player of the Year while also winning the State Farm Wade Trophy. She reached 1,000 career points in two seasons or less during her third campaign.
She improved even more as a senior, winning the same Player of the Year awards as 2005, but adding the Associated Press National Player of the Year award as a senior in 2006. She played in 140 career games, the most of any player at LSU. She is still the only player in school history to be named a State Farm Coaches Association All-American three times.
Augustus ended her career with 2,702 points, the second most at LSU, and scored double-digit points 132 times, the most in NCAA history. She was drafted first overall by the Minnesota Lynx where she went on to win Rookie of the Year, four WNBA titles, eight-time WNBA All-Star, and was on the All-WNBA first team in 2012. She is ranked Top 10 all-time in scoring for the WNBA.
Augustus and her teammate at LSU Sylvia Fowles became the first Olympians for the United States in LSU women’s basketball as they captured three goal medals in Beijing ’08, London ’12, and Rio ’16. The 2016 Olympics came while Baton Rouge was dealing with devastating flooding.
“I’m just filled with joy that I was able to do something to make my family, my friends and everyone who has been effected by the flooding proud,” Augustus said at the press conference following her third Gold Medal victory. “To be here three times is more than enough for me; one time was enough. To be there in Beijing was more than enough, but to be here and share this moment with great players, great people, it means a lot and Baton Rouge, this is for you.”