On Thursday, LSU basketball coach Kim Mulkey did something unexpected: she asked for help.
In a back room at Mansurs on the Boulevard, she met with eight Baton Rouge women — not to talk about X’s and O’s but about money. Some of the women were die-hard fans. At least one admitted she didn’t know “what a free throw does.” That didn’t matter. Mulkey was there to explain how women’s sports survive in today’s world.
Thanks to the transfer portal and the rise of name, image and likeness — which allows athletes to earn money while still in school — recruiting has become a high-stakes game.
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Once the ladies took their seats, Champagne in hand, Mulkey — who has “never had a drop of alcohol or coffee” — told them she’s not a fundraiser and doesn’t enjoy playing that role.
To stay in the game, in every sense, Mulkey has got to figure out a way to supplement the money the women’s basketball program gets from the LSU athletic department.
“I want to educate you in a way where you understand what’s going on. LSU takes care of me, OK? Our coaches are well paid, I’m well paid,” Mulkey said. “But this NIL, here’s the deal …”
Mulkey gave a crash course on college sports economics — the tectonic shifts of NIL and the power and reach of “television money.”
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“For all of us in athletics, we’ve got to pull for football, and we’ve got to pull for men’s basketball because the NCAA Tournament is where the men in basketball get the money and we reap it. When we get to the College Football Playoffs, we reap it.”
Mulkey explained that none of the big women’s basketball programs make money — not LSU, not UConn, not Tennessee, not even South Carolina, a program that generated nearly $5.9 million in revenue in fiscal year 2024. The program’s expenses, however, were at $11.5 million, resulting in a $5.6 million loss.
“Even though you win national championships and you get to the tournament, there’s no dollar value from TV that they’re paying the same way they do for the men, right?” Mulkey said.
Most of the women gathered previously had understood NIL to mean that an individual player can get a contract with a sponsor — like Olivia Dunne and Flau’jae Johnson have done — and not that university athletic programs had to guarantee top dollar to athletes to persuade them to sign on the dotted line.
For star players, Mulkey explained, the program itself has to offer what amounts to an annual salary — $400,000 or more for top women’s players, and even higher for the men.
Recruiting wins like LSU getting former South Carolina player MiLaysia Fulwiley don’t come cheap. When asked what a player like Fulwiley costs, Mulkey said that “some kids can be $400,000. Some kids can be $500 grand.”
Jennifer Roberts, an LSU assistant coach who has been with Mulkey since her days at Louisiana Tech, said she organized the lunch to help get the word out.
“Kim is the only boss that I’ve ever had,” Roberts said. “I went straight to work for her (after college) and she is tired.”
These were seasoned lunch-goers, but this gathering wasn’t a typical midday meet-up. The conversation zigzagged. At times, it was hard to follow the many tangents. There were questions about how to ensure that the money they give to the Tiger Athletic Foundation goes to support the women’s program. They started brainstorming ways to reach the fundraising gap.
Then someone tossed out a name that made everyone perk up: Britney Spears.
Mulkey is a big fan. She and Spears both grew up in Tangipahoa Parish. Both played point guard on their high school basketball teams. The group wondered aloud whether Spears might be willing to lend her celebrity to the cause.
Lexie Polito attended the luncheon because she’s been a longtime Mulkey fan. Originally from Ruston where Mulkey played college ball and became an assistant coach, Polito said that “shocked” was not the right word to describe her takeaway from the lunch.
She added that she was happy to be part of a group of women who want to help, “not only for LSU women’s basketball, but primarily for coach Mulkey.”
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“I’m more in awe of coach Mulkey and her genius in coaching — and that she has to raise money to recruit more,” Polito said.
Mulkey explained that the pay-to-play conundrum is the reason Nick Saban left coaching. He didn’t sign up to raise money that would allow him to recruit student-athletes. Even though everyone involved wants the athletes to get their due, Mulkey says the current system isn’t sustainable.
Mulkey said Roberts arranged the luncheon not just to educate — but “to keep me from retiring.”
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