Kim Mulkey knew she had a rebuilding project when she took over as LSU's coach.
The Tigers won 26 games this season, 17 more than last season, thanks to the quick work of the long-time Baylor coach.
The Associated Press women's basketball Coach of the Year was awarded to Mulkey for the third time. The only other coaches who have done it are Geno Auriemma and Muffet McGraw.
Mulkey said he was honored to be in that group. We had a really good year.
The AP Top 25 are voted on by a 30-member national media panel. South Carolina's Dawn Staley was second with eight votes. Tara VanDerveer got three, along with Wes Moore of NC State. Five coaches received one vote.
The first two rounds of the NCAA tournament were hosted by LSU. After losing to Ohio State in the second round, the Tigers finished with more than 25 wins.
When Mulkey took over the team that had won seven games the year before, she compared it to this season's team.
She said that you make goals that are realistic such as having a winning season. If we finish in the top half of the SEC, we can get into the NCAA tournament. You have to crawl before you can run and you have to walk before you can walk. We were realistic.
In the SEC, the Tigers went 13-3 and had wins over Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. South Carolina played tough, falling by six points.
Before she became the fastest coach in college basketball history to 600 victories, Mulkey was the player and assistant coach at Louisiana Tech, where she won three national titles. She was in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.
She was the AP Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2019.
She said that it was unbelievable that the team did what they did. That is hard to do.
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