LADY TIGERS TIMELINE LSU is entering its 45th season of women’s basketball in 2019-20. The Lady Tigers first played basketball as a varsity sport in 1975-76 and since that inaugural season, LSU has posted 39 winning seasons, played in 26 NCAA Tournaments, advanced to the AIAW National Championship game in 1977 and the NCAA Final Four in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
THE COACHES
LSU women’s basketball has featured illustrious Hall of Fame coaches since its inception. Jinks Coleman coached the Lady Tigers for three and a half years before stepping down midway through the 1978-79 season. In three-plus years, Coleman guided LSU to a 91-32 overall mark. Her crowning moment with LSU came during the 1976-77 season as she led the Lady Tigers to the AIAW National Championship game. LSU fell to topranked Delta State, but that 1977 team remains the only squad in school history to play for a national title. Coleman’s 1977-78 team holds the school record for most victories with 37. Coleman was replaced by Barbara Swanner midway through the 1979 season and Swanner coached the Lady Tigers for the next three years. She led LSU to an overall mark of 57-50 before ending her coaching career at the conclusion of the 1981-82 season. Hall of Famer Sue Gunter joined the Lady Tigers for the 1982-83 season. In 22 seasons with the Lady Tigers, Gunter led the Lady Tigers to 442 victories and guided her teams to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, the 1991 and 2003 SEC Tournament titles and the 2004 NCAA Final Four. Gunter, who retired following the 2003-04 season, is a member of both the Naismith Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She added another accolade to her historic career in the spring of 2010 when she was inducted into the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame. Gunter was a true pioneer for the sport and her legacy at LSU remains the foundation of the program. Pokey Chatman replaced Gunter after serving as the acting head coach for 20 games in 2003-04, guiding the team to a 15-5 mark, including the program’s first trip to the NCAA Final Four. She finished her career during the 2006-07 season with a 90-14 record. Bob Starkey served as acting head coach during the 2007
NCAA Tournament. Starkey led the Lady Tigers to a fourth straight Final Four appearance as he produced a 4-1 record, including a 73-50 upset of Connecticut in the Fresno Regional Final. Van Chancellor was named the sixth head coach in LSU history on April 11, 2007. Chancellor, a Naismith Hall of Famer and the all-time winningest head coach in WNBA history, led the Lady Tigers to a Final Four and three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Chancellor coached for four seasons and stepped down following the 2010-11 season. He finished his LSU tenure with a 90-40 record. In April 2011, LSU Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva named Nikki Fargas (formerly Nikki Caldwell) the seventh head coach in the history of the program. Fargas stepped to the podium on April 4 and delivered the following message: “The first thing I thought about was Sue Gunter. She came to mind right off the bat. Having played in the SEC and having played against those old Sue Gunter teams back in the 90s, I was just moved because she has meant so much to a lot of us, our career, and our choices to go into college coaching because of what she has done for women’s basketball. I can’t tell you enough how honored I am to be a part of such a great legacy.” Fargas brought a winning attitude back to the program as she has guided LSU to five seasons of 20-plus victories, six NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16 trips in 2013 and 2014.
THE 1970S
The decade of the 1970s saw the start of women’s basketball as a varsity sport at LSU. The Lady Tigers played their first game in November of 1975, losing to Whitworth, 64-58. LSU’s first win came a week later with a 75-62 victory over Southwestern Louisiana. The win
was the first of 17 for the Lady Tigers in their inaugural season as LSU posted a first-year mark of 17-14. A year later, LSU, behind the play of a couple of Australians in Maree Jackson and Julie Gross, was playing for the AIAW National title. After going unrecognized for much of the year, LSU finally began to gain some respect with wins over three ranked teams in February. The Lady Tigers entered the AIAW State Tournament on a roll, however, LSU lost to Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State, but they were still able to advance to the AIAW Regional Tournament. At Regionals, the Lady Tigers beat Texas, Stephen F. Austin and Baylor to advance to the AIAW National Tournament. By this time the Lady Tigers were ranked No. 11 in the nation and after wins over Western Washington and Baylor, LSU was in the Final Four. LSU knocked off second-ranked Immaculata, 74-68, in the semifinals and then fell to top-ranked Delta State, 68-55, in the national title game. LSU finished with a 29-8 overall mark, the second-most victories recorded in school history in a single year at the time. In 1977-78, the Lady Tigers achieved their first No. 1 ranking as LSU spent most of January and February atop the Associated Press poll, after having started the year ranked No. 2 in the nation. The Lady Tigers stayed there until Feb. 15 when Tennessee moved ahead of LSU. Despite being ranked No. 2 in the nation, LSU couldn’t advance out of the Regionals as the Sue Gunter-coached Stephen F. Austin Lady Jacks eliminated the Lady Tigers in the semifinals. LSU still won 37 games, which remains the school record for victories in a season. LSU closed out the decade of the 1970s with a coaching change as Jinks Coleman stepped down after 15 games in the 1978-79 season. With an 8-7 mark, Coleman was replaced by Barbara Swanner, who guided LSU to a 5-5
mark over the final 10 games of the year. LSU finished with a 13-12 record.
THE 1980S
The decade of the 80s saw LSU establish itself as one of the top programs in the country. LSU opened the decade under Barbara Swanner and posted a 17-17 mark and reached the semifinals of the AIAW Regional Tournament. A year later, Joyce Walker came to Baton Rouge and put women’s basketball at LSU back on the map. Walker, who was way ahead of her time, could do it all. In her first year with the Lady Tigers she averaged 20.7 points a contest and led the Lady Tigers to a 17-15 mark. A year later, the NCAA became the governing body of women’s athletics and the NCAA Tournament was started. The Lady Tigers didn’t make the NCAA Tournament in 1982, but still posted an 18-13 overall mark as Walker averaged 24.9 points a contest. That season was Swanner’s last year as head coach of the Lady Tigers. The 1982-83 season was the first for the Lady Tigers under Sue Gunter, who came to LSU from Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas. In her first year with LSU, Gunter guided the Lady Tigers to a 20-7 mark and a tie for first place in the Western Division of the SEC. Walker’s last year with LSU in 1983-84 marked the Lady Tigers’ first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. LSU went 23-7 and reached the Sweet 16 at the NCAA Tournament before falling to Louisiana Tech. In 1984-85, the Lady Tigers claimed the National Women’s Invitational Tournament (NWIT) title with a 74-54 win over Florida in the championship game. LSU’s best season since 1977 occurred in 1985-86 as the Lady Tigers climbed all the way to No. 8 in the nation and reached the Elite Eight at the NCAA Tournament before falling to
2020-21 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL RECORD BOOK
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