Legendary women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey will be the keynote speaker at the third annual Night of Champions at Delta State.
The university announced Wednesday that Mulkey – a seven-time national champion across time at Louisiana Tech, Baylor, and LSU – will headline the event that serves as a main source of fundraising for the Division II school in Cleveland. This year’s Night of Champions will be held Aug. 14 with tickets now available.
“The Night of Champions continues to be a yearly highlight for our university and community,” Delta State athletic director Mike Kinnison said. “We are honored to have Kim Mulkey as our 2026 featured speaker and look forward to hearing her experiences as a national championship player and building a program as a national championship coach.”
Mulkey has a storied career both inside and outside the lines. She is the only person in college basketball, men’s or women’s, to win national championships as a player, assistant coach, and head coach.
After an All-American playing career at Louisiana Tech, where she led the Bulldogs to four Final Fours and two national titles (1981, 1982), Mulkey stayed with the program as an assistant coach. She helped guide the program to 15 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including another national title (1988), before being hired as the head coach at Baylor in 2000.
Mulkey built a national powerhouse at Baylor, including a 632-104 record across 21 seasons. Her Bears won national championships in 2005, 2012, and 2019, with the 2012 team becoming the first in NCAA history to finish a season with a perfect 40-0 record.
Mulkey left Baylor in 2021 to become the head coach at LSU, a position she still holds. She captured a national championship with the Tigers in 2023 and has led the program to five consecutive 25-win seasons and four straight Sweet 16s.
As for the nine-time National Coach of the Year’s connection to Delta State, Mulkey has coached three recipients of the Wade Trophy (Brittney Griner, Odyssey Sims, and NaLyssa Smith). The award presented annually to the nation’s top women’s college basketball player is named after pioneering Delta State player and coach Margaret Wade.
Unlike the previous two years, the 2026 Night of Champions will be held at The Gin Cleveland’s West End District rather than on campus. Mulkey follows former NFL quarterback Archie Manning (2024) and former MLB catcher and manager Mike Matheny (2025) to speak at the event.