Head coach Kim Mulkey of the LSU Tigers holds the Invesco QQQ WBCA Coaches’ Trophy after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 during the 2023 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center on April 2, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey said she was surprised – but happy – state legislators included money for the school’s basketball arena in Louisiana’s construction budget.
“I didn’t know anything,” Mulkey said of the project in an interview with the Illuminator. “I’m happy for anything LSU can get, whether it’s for the library, whether it’s for the [Pete Maravich Assembly Center]… because we all work at this institution.”
In a buzzer-beater addition to the state construction budget, approved June 8 in the final minutes of the legislative session, State lawmakers allocated $1 million in cash to the Tiger Athletic Foundation for the “PMAC Enhancement Project,” in the final minutes of their legislative session that ended in June. They also intended to give the PMAC an additional $50 million in fees and self-generated revenues, but the legislators made a drafting error in the law that has temporarily put funding off limits.
Mulkey said beyond “motivating people,” she was not involved in getting the PMAC funding in the bill.
Mulkey first asked for the basketball center to be renovated April 19 during the Louisiana Legislature’s LSU Day, an annual event during which LSU students, researchers, administrators and coaches descend on the Capitol to showcase the university.
The coach, fresh off the team’s national championship victory two weeks earlier, used her moment at the microphone in the House chamber to request state money for renovating or replacing the PMAC.
“Get on [House Speaker] Clay Schexnayder and get it for us,” Mulkey told legislators in the crowd.
House Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Tanner Magee, R-Houma, said later that day, when Mulkey and her players waited alongside legislative leaders to be honored for their win, the ever-formidable coach grabbed the opportunity to pitch themon the project.
“She said that it’s a liability to the health of her players, that the condition of the PMAC has degraded to a state that safety is an actual issue,” Magee said in an interview in May.
“Coaches always want to get new stuff and LSU wants to get new stuff, new facilities,” Mulkey said. “I’m for everybody on this campus. Anybody I can help, I’m there. I’m big in academics.”
Cody Worsham, an LSU athletics spokesperson, said there are ongoing problems with the nearly 50-year old stadium, but none of them pose a threat to the safety of players or fans.
“If they’re coming in and using the facility, it’s good to go,” Worsham said in an interview in June. “The safety issues aren’t necessarily like imminent dangers. They are the safety hazards that come with a 50-year-old building.”
Worsham said several problems with the facility can be blamed on building codes from the 1970s, such as insufficient handrails and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues that the university has tried to retrofit. Worsham said those constant maintenance needs drain resources for the building.
The university will use the initial $1 million for planning. Worsham said the athletics department has not yet decided if the university will seek a total replacement of the arena or a renovation of the existing facility.
Mulkey raised concerns a renovation may not be enough, considering the extent of the problems.
“If we keep it, there’s just so much that has to be done, and is it worth it?” Mulkey asked. “Or should we just go do another one? Should we keep it into another one and leave certain sports in here and do another one over there for certain sports?”
LSU also received $3.5 million in the budget for replacing its library, which has been in poor condition for many years, as well as money for faculty pay raises.
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