LSU women's basketball Kim Mulkey agrees to new contract that makes her highest-paid coach

It didn't take Kim Mulkey long to win at LSU.

And naturally, it didn't long for the administration to follow that up with a historic pay raise.

LSU and the women's basketball coach have agreed on a new 10-year contract that will pay her $36 million, making her the highest-paid women's basketball coach in the country by the term's end.

UConn's Geno Auriemma has been the highest paid at $2.9 million a season, with South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley right behind at $2.9 million for the 2022-23 season, her salary will climb to $3.1 million this season.

Mulkey's deal is on the agenda for the LSU Board of Supervisors' bi-monthly meeting on Friday, and the contract is expected to be approved, the Daily Advertiser confirmed. The 61-year-old coach is set to make $2.75 million for the 2023-24 season and increase annually to $3.65 million by 2032-33.

It took Mulkey, 61, two seasons to lead LSU women's basketball to the mountaintop of women's basketball, guiding the program to its first national championship last season. The Tigers, led by superstar Angel Reese as well as Alexis Morris and Flau'jae Johnson, defeated Caitlin Clark and Iowa women's basketball 102-85 in the national championship game.

Mulkey has not only propelled LSU — which had four Final Four appearances on its resume before she took over in 2021 — to new heights, but also has arguably succeeded more on the recruiting front and Name, Image and Likeness frontier.

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LSU signed the nation's top recruiting class this past cycle while also landing the top transfer class following the team's NCAA championship. The Tigers signed Louisville grad transfer guard Hailey Van Lith and sophomore DePaul forward Aneesah Morrow, who finished fourth in scoring in the country for the 2022-23 season.

Mulkey's previous deals owed her $2.5 million a season and ran though the 2028-29 season.

To put her new contact into further perspective, Mulkey's terms would rank her second out of all Group of Five college football coaches in annual pay, behind only Dana Holgerson's $4.2 million in Houston's last season in the American Athletic Conference.

Mulkey is also only behind LSU football coach Brian Kelly among LSU coaches in pay. LSU men's basketball coach Matt McMahon makes $2.9 million per year.

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.