The surroundings are familiar, but the assignment is new. Four-time WNBA Champion, three-time Olympic gold medalist Seimone Augustus has joined the coaching staff at her alma mater, Louisiana State University (LSU). Official practices don’t get underway for a few weeks, so the Louisiana native is learning her role with the team while also enjoying being close to her family.
“I’m getting acclimated to being back home and obviously being around the girls and getting to know them a little better as well as the coaching staff,” said Augustus, the first woman in LSU history to have her jersey retired. “The Tiger pride is still there—how we go about our work, how we go about our business is something I hope I can instill in them and merge it with what Coach [Kim] Mulkey has going on here.”
The number one pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft, Augustus was part of building the Minnesota Lynx into a dominant team (champions in 2011, ’13, ’15 and ’17). Former Lynx teammates Maya Moore and Taj McWilliams Franklin joined Augustus as inductees into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (WBHOF) last spring.
“I was there when [other teams] didn’t even warm up for us,” recalled Augustus. “Then you get to a point where we’re the team that everybody is looking to beat. … Those were probably the best years of my basketball journey.”
In October, she will be officially enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (HOF). “It’s very hard to acknowledge everybody, but when you’re one of those people being acknowledged for exceptional talent, you take some sense of pride in it and you try to represent as best you can,” said Augustus, who visited the HOF as a high schooler. “What really matters is the impact you made during your time. You have a sense of accomplishment.
“Basketball has a weird way of bringing the best out of you and putting you in places and in situations that kind of elevate you as a person and as an athlete,” she added. “To be able to be a part of this enshrinement is crazy to even think of when you think about the players and the people that are a part of the Naismith Hall of Fame. It’s pretty humbling.”