With Kim Mulkey winning a national title, is LSU sports entering a golden age?

BATON ROUGE – On Sunday in Dallas, LSU women's basketball won its first national championship, defeating Iowa 102-85.

Three hours later in the Rocky Mountains, with word of the women's success, LSU gymnastics advanced to the NCAA Championships from the Denver Regional.

And before any of that happened over the weekend, No. 1 LSU baseball toppled No. 9 Tennessee twice in its best-of-three-game series back home in Baton Rouge, clinching a third consecutive series victory to begin SEC play for the first time since 2013.

That's a lot of winning, isn't it? Well LSU fans, now is the time to start getting used to it.

LSU just might be entering a golden age. And not just in women's basketball, but across its entire sports department.

Athletic director Scott Woodward has created a multi-headed fire-breathing dragon in Baton Rouge.

"Scott, you're the best," LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey said at the Tigers' national title celebration on Monday.

LSU has always had the potential to be a powerhouse in college athletics, having showcased its ceiling over the years with baseball in the 90s, football in '04, '07 and '19 and women's basketball reaching four consecutive Final Fours, among others. And there have been long runs of winning seasons from the likes of D-D Breaux, Sue Gunter and Dale Brown, to name a few.

However, sustained championship-level success from multiple sports at the same time has been hard to come by at LSU. As it should be; it's hard to be competing for championships.

But if LSU is going to break through and become a year-to-year national title contender in multiple sports, including all of the major ones, the next decade – starting with Sunday's women's basketball title – is the best chance for it to start.

LSU football should be a top-10 team entering coach Brian Kelly's second season this fall, after surprisingly leading LSU to a 10-win season in Year 1. Moving forward, the Tigers also have the No. 5 recruiting class in the nation this past cycle and have a top-2 class so far in 2024.

Past success is the best indicator of future success and LSU has that in Kelly. He led Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff and the BCS National Championship Game. Now with the talent at LSU, the sky is the limit.

LSU baseball has been the No. 1 team in the nation since Opening Day and coach Jay Johnson's Tigers had the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation this past year. Like Kelly, Johnson has also already led a program to a national championship final, leading Arizona to the title series in 2016.

LSU women's basketball has already reached the mountaintop under Mulkey. But the Tigers also enter next season with the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation to join forces with returning star Angel Reese. They won't be slowing down anytime soon.

That's all before mentioning LSU softball is a top-15 team in the nation, LSU beach volleyball is a top-five program and LSU gymnastics is bringing back top gymnasts Haleigh Bryant and Aleah Finnegan next season.

"When you get an opportunity to talk to Scott Woodward and he presents a clear vision, the plan here and the opportunity, it was an exciting vision for me to look at," Kelly said at his introductory press conference in 2021.

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The elephant in the room, of course, is LSU men's basketball. The Tigers were the worst team in the SEC in coach Matt McMahon's first season, posting a 2-16 record in conference play. They also only have the No. 56 recruiting class in the nation, so the future isn't terribly rosy, either.

"My goal is the same every year: I want to help our players and team max out and become the best we're capable of being. Whether that's 15 wins, 18 wins, 31 wins ...," McMahon said following the Tigers' season-ending loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament. "I don't think we were able to get that accomplished this year. That's clearly my responsibility."

But perhaps LSU fans should give Woodward the benefit of the doubt with McMahon's program. His track record of hiring program builders is nearly flawless – including his days as Washington's Atheltic Director when he hired Chris Petersen to become the Huskies' football coach.

And even if McMahon doesn't work out, it's hard to imagine Woodward not hiring a championship-quality candidate on another go-around, especially with an NCAA investigation no longer looming around the proceedings.

LSU women's basketball's title on Sunday was the 50th national championship LSU athletics has ever won. But like Jasmine Carson's 3-pointers on Sunday, don't be surprised if that number rises soon, and rapidly.

As McMahon said at his introductory press conference: "This is LSU: One of the great brands in all of sports."

Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser and the USA TODAY Sports South Region. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU sports: Are Kim Mulkey, Brian Kelly leading Tigers to golden age?