LSU's investment in Kim Mulkey has her atop women's college basketball

Just as many of us have said in the past, if you invest in women's basketball at LSU you'll see a return on that investment.

LSU Building a Juggernaut!

Some key quotes.......

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Mulkey is the highest paid at $3.26 million this season, edging South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and Connecticut's Geno Auriemma, who both make $3.1 million

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In Mulkey’s first season, 2021-22, revenue totaled nearly $1.8 million. In 2022-23, it was nearly $2.5 million. Like many schools, LSU attributes none of its media rights revenue to women’s basketball, although for fiscal 2023 it reported $27 million of its $46.3 million in media rights revenue as being not specific to any one sport.

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Money that LSU categorized as contributions to the women's basketball program has quadrupled under Mulkey. In 2019-20, the year before the pandemic, it was $200,021. In 2020-21, it was $32,250. In 2021-22, it was $583,586. In 2022-23, it was $836,939.

And that’s before the Tigers won the 2023 national championship behind Angel Reese

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To be clear, Woodward said he still expects LSU to run “a massive deficit” in women’s basketball this season. It’ll likely be similar to last season’s operating deficit, which checked in at just under $7.8 million. In 2020, it was $4.35 million.

Woodward doesn’t care. He doesn’t think investing in women’s sports should be measured objectively, but rather subjectively. A 1985 LSU grad, he said he is driven by the desire to have his school considered the best in everything, whether it’s football, physics or yes, women’s hoops.

“I’m looking at it for the greater good — not just for women’s sports but for young girls in this community and people who aspire to come to this university and for making people feel great in this state,” he said. “I don’t look at it as dollars and cents or red and black. Because of that, Woodward plans to keep spending money on women’s basketball, “financials be damned.””

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n January, the NCAA announced an eight-year, $290 million media rights deal for 40 NCAA championship events, headlined by women’s basketball. The deal, which goes into effect next season, is worth roughly triple the current agreement. Additionally, new NCAA president Charlie Baker announced that women’s basketball, like its male counterpart, will start to receive units, where conferences get paid for making the NCAA Tournament and advancing.

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Spending on women’s hoops in Baton Rouge has increased significantly since Mulkey arrived. In fiscal year 2022, LSU invested $8.3 million, compared to a little over $4.3 million in fiscal year 2021. In fiscal year 2023, LSU spent $10.25 million, almost as much as it did on men’s ($10.7 million). Mulkey’s pay is higher this season than that of Tigers men’s coach Matt McMahon, who makes $2.7 million in his second season. In fiscal year 2023, the biggest gap was in support staff funds, where the school spent $570,000 more for women's basketball than it did for men's.

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Let's GEAUX!!!