Kim Mulkey, who led the Baylor women’s basketball program to three national championships and 23 combined Big 12 regular season and tournament, resigned from her position Sunday and accepted a similar position at LSU. LSU made the announcement Sund

On Saturday, LSU women’s head coach Nikki Fargas officially resigned as she is reportedly in talks with the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces to become their team president.

The attraction between Mulkey and LSU began in the middle of the week last week when reports surfaced that Fargas was talking to the Aces. LSU athletic director Scott Woodward has a history of making big-name hires wherever he’s been. At Texas A&M he hired Jimbo Fisher away from Florida State to run the football program. At Washington, he hired Chris Peterson to run that football program.

There’s been speculation over what actually led to this sudden move by Mulkey between relationships being frayed within the Baylor athletic department including Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades and University President Dr. Linda Livingstone to a contentious disagreement over where the future basketball arena is to be built. Mulkey had made it known she wanted it on campus.

Coincidentally, much of this started building shortly after the men’s basketball program won its first national championship on April 5 when it defeated Gonzaga, 86-70. Still, much more attention was given to that team during its run over Mulkey’s which lost to UConn, 69-67, on a controversial non-foul call in the closing seconds in the Elite 8.

Money is not an issue as Mulkey, who will turn 59 in May, reportedly makes in excess of $2 million. Still, Mulkey’s departure comes as a stunning move to the overall athletic scene.

She had been a pillar within the athletic department since being hired in 2000 to turn around a program that was essentially considered an afterthought. Mulkey did more than that.

At a time when Baylor’s athletic department was reeling in the early 2000s because of the men’s basketball program scandal, Mulkey’s program offered some hope when it won the 2005 national championship.

From there, Baylor became a national power and annual title contender. The Lady Bears won 10 consecutive Big 12 regular season titles dating back to 2011.

During her 21 seasons as head coach, Mulkey’s teams made the NCAA tournament 19 times. She produced her best and arguably one of the best teams in the history of women’s college basketball when the 2011-2012 Lady Bears finished 40-0 and won its second national championship. Mulkey became just the third coach in the history of the game to win more than two when her program won its third in 2019, a nail-biting 82-81 win over Notre Dame.

Along the way, Mulkey led Baylor four Final Fours and 10 Elite Eight appearances. She leaves Baylor with a record of 632-104 (.859).

A search for a replacement will begin immediately.