The No. 3-seeded LSU women's basketball team was upset 79-64 by 6-seed Ohio State in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday, but Tigers coach Kim Mulkey still labeled the season "one of my most enjoyable years ever in my career."
Mulkey, who left Baylor last April after 21 seasons and three national championships, guided LSU to second place in the SEC at 13-3, the program's best finish in the league since 2009. This was LSU's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2017, as the Tigers finished 26-6 overall.
"I personally judge good coaches based on the talent they have on the floor and are they overachieving," Mulkey said in her postgame media session. "Did we beat some people this year that we should not have beaten? You bet we did. We beat ranked teams ... we came from nowhere and just built it.
"We were winning, but it's enjoyable because you can see the impact that one program can have on an entire university. And it was done in one year."
The Tigers finished 9-13 overall and 6-8 in the SEC during the 2020-21 season, after which coach Nikki Fargas left to become president of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces. LSU then targeted Mulkey, who grew up in the Louisiana and played collegiately at Louisiana Tech, where she also served as an assistant coach for 15 seasons.
"This is home, and it's why I came back," Mulkey said Monday. "I didn't go to [school at] LSU; I competed against LSU. But it's our flagship university in the state. And I've seen what has taken place here through the years: the Final Fours and the great players that played here and the stands being full. I knew what it was capable of being like. Timing was right in my life to come back. I wanted to be a positive for LSU, for the state of Louisiana. That's why it's so enjoyable. Something in your heart and gut tells you this is where you need to be."
Mulkey acknowledged it was difficult to leave what she had built at Baylor but that the move has worked out.
"I don't know of any coach in men's or women's basketball that would do what I did," Mulkey said. "That would leave a dynasty and a very talented team. I think a lot of coaches are scared, a lot of coaches become content to stay where they are. They just don't do what I did. But it was the right move for me."
LSU's last trip to the Sweet 16 was in 2014 under Fargas. Mulkey hopes to return to the Final Four -- LSU went there five years in a row from 2004 to 2008 -- and win the program's first NCAA title. But LSU will be losing five seniors from this season, including guard Khayla Pointer, who led the Tigers with 58 points and 12 assists in their two NCAA tournament games.
Pointer said that while Thursday's loss was disappointing, the experience of this season was anything but.
"It was fun," Pointer said. "We lost, but you have to look at the positive things that we accomplished."
Then as Pointer walked off the podium, she hugged Mulkey and said, "I love you, Coach."
As Mulkey said, "I was blessed to have inherited experience. We don't have that next year. We can get in the transfer portal, and we will. We're going to build this program with high school seniors, as well.
"It's gonna take time. This bunch jump-started this program, revived it again. I'm forever grateful to them. Never had one minute's trouble off the floor. Those seniors were mature, and they just embraced us as a staff and let me coach them."