She nearly went back home three years ago, but Seimone Augustus wasn’t quite ready. Augustus reasoned that Kim Mulkey, who had just been hired by LSU, needed a staff with expertise who could fulfill high standards because her own coaching career was still in its early stages. Thus, Augustus, who announced her retirement from the WNBA in 2020, graciously turned down Mulkey’s invitation to work with her and started her coaching career elsewhere. She accepted positions with Athletes Unlimited and the Los Angeles Sparks. She secretly hoped that the chance to become an LSU coach would present itself again in the interim.Mulkey didn’t turn it down when it presented itself, following her third season at LSU. Augustus remarked, “This feels like an official beginning.” “The work really does begin,” Three days after revealing she will be joining Mulkey’s coaching staff for the 2024–2025 campaign, the LSU women’s basketball team formally reintroduced Augustus on Thursday. Perhaps the best player the program has ever produced is the newest assistant coach for the Tigers. Former baseball coach and athletic director Skip Bertman referred to Augustus, a standout recruit from Capitol High School, as the most significant recruit the Tigers athletic department had ever signed after she committed to LSU in 2002. Augustus guided LSU to its first three Final Four appearances while he was a college student. She led the Minnesota Lynx to four league titles in the WNBA. Additionally, she assisted Team USA in winning three Olympic gold medals on the international front. Now that she’s back where her illustrious playing career began, Augustus is prepared to advance in her coaching career. What made her accept the job? “Why not?” stated Augustus. It’s home, after all. I’ve been gone for more than 20 years, of course, only popping in and out when I could throughout the seasons or breaks. But the opportunity was the main factor. Over time, coaching has been coming back to me. Augustus is replacing Johnny Derrick, a seasoned Mulkey assistant who stepped down at the conclusion of the last campaign. LSU is asking Augustus to concentrate only on basketball while dividing up Derrick’s administrative duties among other staff members, including scheduling, budgeting, and travel. According to Mulkey, she will mostly collaborate with LSU’s guards, WNXX-FM, 104.5 in Baton Rouge. Augustus said that other places had offered her coaching. But she concluded that LSU, under associate coach Bob Starkey, who served as an assistant to the late Sue Gunter when Augustus was a player at LSU, and Mulkey, was the ideal environment for her to develop as a coach. It’s such a fulfilling feeling to bring someone back who is liked and respected as much as Seimone is, and I can’t wait for our players to spend time with her and around her every day, Mulkey stated. “I just think that it was just a no-brainer.” Augustus will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in August, making history as the first female athlete from LSU to do so. In April, Augustus was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in June. Andscape expressed her desire to be more than just a Hall of Fame player to Augustus in April. She also aspires to be inducted into the coaching Hall of Fame, which would be an impressive achievement. Only five individuals have been admitted into the Naismith Memorial Hall as both players and coaches: Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, Lenny Wilkens, and John Wooden. Augustus needs to discover her voice first, though. She claimed that she is not a frequent speaker. And when she does, her tone is often quiet and gentle. When she takes over as LSU’s bench coach, will that change? Augustus expressed her curiosity in the sound and sensation of that transition. Augustus remarked, “For myself and many other coaches, it’s just an identity thing.” “Everyone had to fend for themselves. Thus, I believe that this is a fantastic chance for me to work with a legendary coach who has been in the game for more than 20 years.I’m grateful that it did resurface, and I accepted it when it was appropriate for me to do so.
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