The Advocate reporter Jan Risher noted recently that LSU’s glamorous guru Kim Mulkey is accompanied on road trips by her hair and makeup artist Morgan LeBlanc. Risher says the look Mulkey presents at courtside takes about two hours of prep time.
A profile from the March 30 edition of The Advocate reveals assistant coach Jennifer Roberts finds other stylists to assist hair and makeup for the boss on road trips. Risher’s story notes that Roberts has been coordinating Mulkey’s look for 23 years since Roberts was a student at Louisiana Tech.
The stylish assistant told Risher that Kim’s post-season outfit that elicited comparisons to Michael Jackson involved Roberts rushing to a business for an emergency alteration. Her pants were delivered 30 minutes before LSU’s Queen Bee made a grand entrance into the arena in Spokane. And the crowd wowed at the fun-loving extravagance of the girl from Tickfaw.
LSU has invested heavily in the promotion of the women’s basketball program, which is running about $9 million in the red this year. The return on investment is the attention Mulkey receives for her smashing wardrobe and exciting teams.
Kim turns 63 on May 17 while football coach Brian Kelly will be 64 on October 25. These seasoned coaches have practiced girth control which is essential to possessing the look of a leader. Kelly, who runs an operation with a surplus of $50 million annually should take a page from Kim’s playbook and assign an assistant coach to accent his physique when he trots into Tiger Stadium and at other SEC fortresses.
Paul Dietzel was the last LSU football coach to wear a suit on the sidelines, and he looked fabulous. With broad shoulders, chiseled jaw and electric smile, Tall Paul was the toast of the college game from 1958-61. He resembled an actor playing a football coach when he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated on Nov. 26, 1962.
It was rumored that John Molloy’s 1975 best-seller “Dress for Success” was partially inspired by the sartorial splendor of Paul Franklin Dietzel.
LSU should surrender sufficient Tiger Athletic Foundation funds and provide Kelly with an assistant coach for appearance, a massage therapist for relaxation, a barber for just the right cut, world renowned Baton Rouge tailor Manuel Martinez for the perfect fit jacket and pants and the LSU ROTC unit to complete a spit shine for some spiffy Italian loafers for BK.
Dietzel focused on his image before the advent of every game televised to the masses. It was the words of sportswriter Bud Montet and play-by-play announcers John Ferguson and J.C. Politz that described the visual appeal of LSU’s studly coach. Dietzel deftly showcased his personal magnetism to attract recruits. The coach also basked in the adoration he enjoyed from female admirers of all ages. Dietzel was selling himself and by extension, he ushered in the first Golden Age of LSU Football.
Let’s make sure Kelly looks as regal as the handsome home he owns on Lakeshore Drive. Former LSU Business School Dean Eli Jones, who is Dean Emeritus at Texas A&M, wrote a relevant book titled “Sell, Sell, Sell.” Jones makes the case that people make up their minds about a person in the first six seconds they see them.
Mulkey understands the value of optics, and Kelly should follow her lead. Kelly’s program covers Mulkey’s deficit. The fiscally conversative coach warrants the same attention to personal appearance as his liberally spending colleague, who has adroitly attracted vast anticipation about how she will look at tipoff.
The late actor Burt Reynolds wrote that his former wife Loni Anderson never wore the same dress twice because “I am a star.” Kim is an icon because she embodies style and swag. If Kelly emulates Mulkey, LSU football may return to the nirvana of 2019.
Time for LSU to Win SEC Honors in Major Sport
SEC championships are becoming more elusive than national titles for LSU sports. Women’s basketball and baseball captured top honors two years ago despite falling short of the conference pinnacle.
LSU has not won a conference women’s regular season basketball championship in 17 years. The last Tiger team to do it was Van Chancellor’s 2008 unit which was 14-0 in league play.
LSU last won the SEC regular season men’s hoops title in the Free Will Wade year of 2019. The Bengals were 15-2 against the conference.
LSU has not won a baseball conference championship since 2017. Eight years have passed since Paul Mainieri’s crew won the SEC with a 21-9 mark and was the NCAA College World Series runner-up.
The Tiger footballers have been without a league trophy since the magical year of 2019 when LSU won the conference, the league championship game and national glory with a 15-0 record.
LSU won SEC football honors in 1935, ’36, ’58, ’61, ’70, ’86, ’88, 2001. ’03, ’07, ’11 and ’19. Bernie Moore, Paul Dietzel, Nick Saban and Les Miles won two SEC titles while Charles McClendon, Bill Arnsparger, Mike Archer and Ed Orgeron won one.
Since Dietzel’s 1958 SEC and national championship run, these are the SEC coaches who have been crowned NCAA champion in at least one major poll.
Bear Bryant…1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979 at Alabama.
Vince Dooley… 1980 at Georgia.
Steve Spurrier….1996 at Florida.
Phillip Fulmer… 1998 at Tennessee.
Nick Saban… 2003 at LSU, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020 at Alabama.
Urban Meyer….2006, 2008 at Florida.
Les Miles….2007 at LSU.
Ed Orgeron…2019 at LSU.
Kirby Smart….2021, 2022 at Georgia.
That’s 23 national titles in 67 seasons from ten league coaches with four of them at LSU.
Ole Miss claims championships under Johnny Vaught in 1959, 1960 and 1962, but the Rebels, who were 30-1-1 in those years, did not get the nod as champs by either the Associated Press or United Press International.
In those three seasons, Vaught was 0-1-1 against LSU and unbeaten in 30 games against everybody else.
Saban won 145 games in the SEC in 22 seasons at LSU and Alabama.
Bryant won 137 conference games in 25 seasons at Alabama.
Spurrier won 126 SEC contests in 23 years with Florida and South Carolina.
Dooley won 108 SEC matchups in 25 years at Georgia. Vaught captured 107 conference wins in 24 years at Ole Miss.
Shug Jordan, who won it all in 1957 at Auburn, posted 96 conference wins in 25 seasons with the War Eagles. Fulmer won 91 SEC games in 17 years at Knoxville.
These are records of the LSU coaches with the most SEC wins with the Tigers.
- Charles McClendon: 63-41
- Les Miles: 62-28
- Bernie Moore: 43-28-4
- Ed Orgeron: 29-14
- Nick Saban: 28-12
- Paul Dietzel: 26-16-1
- Brian Kelly: 17-7
- Gerry DiNardo: 17-20-1
- Gaynell Tinsley: 17-25-6
- Mike Archer: 15-12
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