The LSU women's basketball program recently hired Hall of Famer and former player Seimone Augustus to serve on Kim Mulkey's staff, which leads many to believe that she could be in line to become the successor as head coach after Mulkey decides to step away. While the speculation is understandable, Mulkey did not give anything on whether there was a succession plan in mind with this hiring.

“Obviously with her being an LSU person and playing here and all the things, you know, people are going to automatically think that,” Kim Mulkey said, via Thomas Goldkamp of on3.com. “But I think Seimone will quickly tell you she's getting ready to learn from people who have been in the business a lot longer than her, things that I can't teach her that they will teach her.”

Mulkey went on to say that she hopes to see all of her assistants move on to be head coaches somewhere, whether that be at the LSU women's basketball program when she is done, or somewhere else.

“I want all of them that want to be head coaches that when I'm done I want to be able to look out there and go, ‘That's one of mine over there. Over here,'” Mulkey said, according to Goldkamp. “And they're all over the country. When you see that, it'll make you proud.”

As for Seimone Augustus' long-term goals, she made it clear that she does want to be a head coach at some point.

“I hope to be a head coach one day, but if it's here, so be it,” Augustus said, via Goldkamp. “If not, obviously you see the expansion in the W. It would be great to go back. But day by day, that's all.”

Augustus hopes to help her LSU women's basketball program get back to glory and win a national championship after failing to defend their 2023 title this past season. Mulkey has been a head coach for a long time going back to her days at the Baylor basketball program, so there likely has to be a succession plan for LSU at some point, but that does not necessarily have to be right away.

Seimone Augustus' career journey back to LSU women's basketball

As mentioned before, Augustus played at the LSU women's basketball program, and averaged 19.3 points with 5.2 rebounds in her four years, according to Sports Reference. She earned a ton of accolades as a player in college, both in the SEC and on the national level, and made three final fours in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

After college, Augustus went on to play in the WNBA in 2006 with the Minnesota Lynx, where she spent 14 of her 15 seasons. She made the All-Star game eight times and won four championships in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.

After her playing days, Augustus became an assistant with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2021 through 2022. Now, she will try to establish a coaching career under Mulkey at LSU.