LSU's investment in Kim Mulkey has her atop women's college basketball coaches pay list
Kim Mulkey led LSU to the 2023 title in just her second season. AD Scott Woodward says he knew the hire would pay off, still expects "massive deficit" in women's basketball program.
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BATON ROUGE, La. â When Kim Mulkey left the womenâs basketball powerhouse at Baylor in April 2021 to take the job at LSU, the fiery Louisiana native earned a new nickname: R-O-I.
As in, âreturn on investment,â what ESPN analyst Debbie Antonelli expected when the Tigers persuaded Mulkey, whoâd won three national championships at Baylor, to return to her home state, making her the highest-paid coach in womenâs hoops. LSU athletics director Scott Woodward said he knew it would be money well spent, but could anyone have predicted this?
In USA TODAY Sportsâ review of compensation for Division I womenâs basketball head coaches, Mulkey is the highest paid at $3.26 million this season, edging South Carolinaâs Dawn Staley and Connecticut's Geno Auriemma, who both make $3.1 million. She is one of 18 coaches making $1 million or more this year, an uptick from 11 since USA TODAY Sports last did this investigation in 2021-22.
The spike in âmillion-dollar babies,â as one agent likes to call them, speaks to the exponential rise in both investment in womenâs sports and their popularity. And while womenâs coaches say there are still significant improvements to be made, the numbers from LSUâs annual financial report back up what many have been arguing for years: It takes money to bring in more money.
To wit:
- In the three seasons before Mulkey arrived in Baton Rouge â not including 2020-21, which was a weird year for every program because of the COVID-19 pandemic â operating revenue from LSU womenâs basketball averaged just over $306,000 per year. In Mulkeyâs 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 womenâs 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.
- From 2017-2020, LSU reported $316,213 from ticket sales. In 2021-22, it was $867,166. Last season, it was $973,880. And for 2024, LSU's average attendance is substantially larger as the Tigers have drawn five-figure crowds almost exclusively.
- 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 thatâs before the Tigers won the 2023 national championship behind Angel Reese, a player Mulkey picked up in the transfer portal in 2022 as one of her first moves as head coach.
âI call it Mulkey Mania,â Antonelli told USA TODAY Sports of the Tigers craze, where locals pack Pete Maravich Assembly Center, many of them in sequin jackets matching the head coachâs gaudy attire. âI credit Scott Woodward. He paid her a big, fat salary, he invested in the infrastructure and knew she would deliver. Itâs remarkable what theyâve done. But probably even he didnât know it was going to be this good this quickly.â
Itâs proof, Antonelli added, that when athletics departments invest in womenâs sports, the return is worth it.
AD supporting his alma mater, 'financials be damned'
To be clear, Woodward said he still expects LSU to run âa massive deficitâ in womenâs basketball this season. Itâll likely be similar to last seasonâs operating deficit, which checked in at just under $7.8 million. In 2020, it was $4.35 million.
Woodward doesnât care. He doesnât think investing in womenâs 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 itâs football, physics or yes, womenâs hoops.
âIâm looking at it for the greater good â not just for womenâs 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,â he said. âI donât look at it as dollars and cents or red and black.â
Because of that, Woodward plans to keep spending money on womenâs basketball, âfinancials be damned.â
In the NCAAâs current model, schools get almost their entire operating budget from the revenue brought in by football and menâs basketball (LSU also came close to breaking even in baseball according to its fiscal year financial report from 2022-23, which is unusual). But thereâs hope from the womenâs basketball community that soon, their sport will be a money-maker, too.
In January, the NCAA announced an eight-year, $290 million media rights deal for 40 NCAA championship events, headlined by womenâs basketball. The deal, which goes into effect next season, is worth roughly triple the current agreement. Additionally, new NCAA president Charlie Baker announced that womenâs basketball, like its male counterpart, will start to receive units, where conferences get paid for making the NCAA Tournament and advancing.
The men have had units â which coaches say encourage schools to invest in menâs hoops â for more than three decades. Womenâs coaches have been fighting for nearly a decade for the same distribution model. Itâll be a boon for everyone, but especially schools that typically dance deep into March.
Mulkey isnât sure if womenâs basketball can become a cash cow, though.
âWill it happen in my lifetime? I donât know,â she said to USA TODAY Sports. âI hope so. I certainly have seen a lot in my lifetime that I never thought Iâd see in womenâs basketball: we are on television just about every game.â
David Berri, a sports economics professor at Southern Utah University, is optimistic that women's sports can and will generate more money in the coming years. But there are factors out of their control, too.
âItâs still going to be the case that womenâs college basketball is going to lag in revenue compared to menâs,â Berri said. âAnd itâs not because the menâs product is better, itâs because they came first and have 100 years of history (and marketing) behind them.â
'I think Kim Mulkey is a genius'
A major issue when it comes to womenâs sports making profit relates to television.
âOne of the things that holds back womenâs sports is the TV deals people make for them, theyâre really lousy,â Berri explained. âIn womenâs basketball, one (of the) things that holds back womenâs revenue is the NCAA is run by men, who donât try very hardâ to sell womenâs sports.
Woodward has no idea how quickly womenâs basketball could become profitable nationwide but said âthe signs are good,â in terms of TV ratings and ticket sales. Last April, the LSU-Iowa final drew nearly 10 million viewers, a 103% increase from the 2022 championship game. This season, numerous TV viewing records have been set, and sellouts have become more common in some Power Five conferences.
Mulkey, too, is encouraged that the power and potential of womenâs sports is âacknowledged now in a way thatâs not forced and not fake,â she said. âThe crowds around buses when you go on a road trip, the lines outside arenas to get into ball games, thatâs real stuff. We just donât have enough of those (programs) yet.â
Itâs still going to be the case that womenâs college basketball is going to lag in revenue compared to menâs. And itâs not because the menâs product is better, itâs because they came first and have 100 years of history (and marketing) behind them.David Berri, sports economics professor at Southern Utah University
But because of what LSU has done, other schools believe they can get there, too.
âI think Kim Mulkey is a genius,â said Arizona coach Adia Barnes. âShe started this whole fad where they dress like her and look what sheâs done in such a short amount of time, look how many fans they bring. Itâs pretty remarkable.â
When Barnes took over at Arizona in 2016, the Wildcats had just over 300 season ticket holders. After leading the Wildcats to the 2021 Final Four, the McKale Center is regularly packed; Arizona leads the Pac-12 in attendance, at 7,569 fans per game. Arizona sold more than 7,000 season tickets this year and during Barnesâ eight-year tenure, has raised season ticket prices three times.
âAll the great players, all the stardom across womenâs basketball, thatâs powerful,â Barnes said. âAnd it leads to finances.â
LSU is paying Kim Mulkey more than its men's hoops coach this season
Mulkey said when Woodward recruited her, she didnât demand a certain salary for herself or assistants.
âI never put a dollar figure on anything (during negotiations),â said Mulkey, who was surprised to learn she is the highest-paid coach in womenâs hoops this season. âWhat I did ask was, âAre you making a financial investment? I need to tell you what I make at Baylor. Are you saying that you want to hire me and my staff with the understanding that weâre not taking a pay cut?â â
The answer was a resounding âyes.â Baylor, which Mulkey said âtook good care of me financially,â had already made her one of the highest-paid women's head coaches in the country during her 21 seasons in Waco; in her last full calendar year at Baylor (2020), the school credited her with $2.7 million, including the value of bonuses and benefits, according to tax documents. Mulkey took two of her three assistants to Baton Rouge, and has since expanded her support staff. Also, in 2022 she brought in veteran assistant Bob Starkey, who has coached both the LSU men's and womenâs teams for 24 seasons combined.
Spending on womenâs 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 menâs ($10.7 million). Mulkeyâs pay is higher this season than that of Tigers menâs 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.
Mulkey said she didnât know the spending breakdown, and wasnât concerned about it.
âIâm not a big person who compares,â she said, shrugging.
Still, Mulkey and Woodward understand that LSU is setting a precedent other programs want their schools to follow.
âIâve had that conversation: âCoach, tell me how I can get our administration to give us what youâre getting?â Listen, Iâm a realist: a lot of that has to do with, I have skins on the wall,â Mulkey said, referencing her four national championships. âAnd some of these coaches donât. So I think they will listen to me because of what Iâve done throughout my career. Thereâs respect there.â
Kim Mulkey hopes other schools follow her example
Mulkey knows she has a national reputation for being prickly, though sheâs adored throughout Baton Rouge and within the LSU athletics department. (Sheâs deeply respected, too, evident by the fact that itâs her, and not McMahon, who has the best, and closest, parking spot at Pete Maravich Assembly Hall. âItâs probably about seniority,â she joked. âIâm the oldest, so they think I need to walk the shortest distance.â)
She said her aim is never to be high maintenance. But she admits, âIâm a coach whoâs going to keep you on your toes. I demand excellence, and donât take no for an answer. If ânoâ is gonna be your answer, Iâm gonna say, âTell me how and why and letâs figure out how to say 'yes.' I always believe thereâs a way to do things. Itâs easy and simple to say 'no'; I want somebody to say, âHey thatâs a great idea. Letâs figure out how to do that even if weâve never done that before.â â
An example of marketing Mulkey doesn't like: across womenâs basketball, numerous programs give away hundreds of tickets, or do something gimmicky â pizza coupons, free T-shirts â to get fans to attend games.
Her philosophy is different: Recruit good players, win games and put a product on the floor that sells itself. Trust that you and your players have worth right now.
Womenâs basketball is valuable, Mulkey said â and that should be more evident now than ever before.
Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com or follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell and Steve Berkowitz at sberkowi@usatoday.com or @ByBerkowitz