Coach Kim Mulkey Takes It All In During Emotional Return To Baton Rouge With Championship Team

"I'm trying not to cry."

When the LSU Tigers returned to their home turf in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, April 5 to celebrate their March Madness championship, no one was happier than head coach Kim Mulkey.

The university threw the champs a parade that wound across campus and to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Wednesday night for a celebration and ceremony to mark the team’s first NCAA women's national championship.

While Coach Mulkey is no stranger to victory (she led the Baylor Bears to big wins three times before returning to Louisiana), this one is particularly sweet because she grew up in Hammond, Louisiana. "This is my home," she said, noting that her mother was in the arena. "I'm trying not to cry," she said, addressing the LSU fans gathered to celebrate the Tigers 102-85 victory over Iowa in Dallas.

To mark the occasion, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome presented Mulkey with a key to the city, according to ESPN. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards also joined the festivities to pay tribute to the team and its coach. "Louisiana always had faith in you, but more importantly, you had faith in yourself and were smart enough not to listen to all the experts who said you didn't have a chance," Edwards told LSU's players, ESPN reports.

Edwards also spoke highly of Mulkey during the ceremony. "We all knew she could do it,” he said, “but what she has done to elevate this program and all of women's sports is truly remarkable."

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