Forget the hoop skirt — LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey has invented the hoop sweater.
The championship-winning coach has always been known for her distinctive outfits, but she took it up a notch on Jan. 5 for the Tigers’ home game against Auburn.
Mulkey, 62, roamed the sidelines in a black sweater that featured an image of a basketball and a backboard, with a rim around her midsection and strands of a basketball net hanging off it. The outfit made it look like she was inside a basketball hoop, and she accented it with a pair of red pants.
Mulkey said in the postgame press conference that she got the outfit from designer and Louisiana native Jaime Glas Odom, better known as the “Queen of Sparkles.”
“I’ve worn basketball stuff, but I don’t think they’ve ever given me one with a net,” Mulkey said. “But that is pretty creative, isn’t it?”
It certainly made an impression.
“Ok I missed Kim Mulkey’s outfit earlier and I am speechless,” read one comment on X.
“You truly never know what Kim Mulkey will be wearing when she walks out that tunnel,” another wrote.
“She definitely got Last Place in her Fantasy Football League. That’s the only possible excuse I’ll accept for this,” another commented.
“Bold fashion choice!” another person wrote.
It’s no surprise Mulkey brought a little something extra to the game considering LSU had invited fans to dress up like Mulkey in the stands with sparkly outfits reminiscent of the veteran coach.
The Tigers faithful did not disappoint.
The winner was a little girl named May in a gold tiger-print suit. She took home one of the flamboyant jackets Mulkey has worn at a game.
Despite her reputation for style on the sidelines, Mulkey said she’s not the one hunting for these outfits.
“Y’all know the story. I don’t shop,” she said in the postgame press conference. “That was dropped off at the house maybe Friday, and I wasn’t even there. And they put two (outfits) up, and I said, ‘Oh, let’s do that one today.’
“They sell this stuff. ‘Queen of Sparkles,’ I’ve told y’all. I need to get an NIL deal with them, don’t I?” she joked. “Look at all those sparkles out there, that hasn’t been that way until I got here, right? She needs to send me some of her money.”
Mulkey also noted that there actually are some outfits that even she deems too outlandish to wear on the sideline.
“Oh, yes. I’m 62 years old, and I’m a team player. That’s how I got talked into this sparkle stuff, and I said I’ll do it for the team, it’ll sell tickets to those fashionistas that know nothing about basketball,” she said at the press conference. “Yes, ‘Do it, Coach,’ and I did it, and it’s worked. But some of that stuff? No way. I won’t even describe some of it because some people wear that, but not this old country girl from Tickfaw (in Louisiana).”
