By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Shreveport native Jennifer Roberts has subtle but significant influence on the LSU women’s basketball program, and previously, the Baylor Bears, as she’s helped her friend Kim Mulkey capture four national championships.
She is LSU’s director of player personnel and influence, which is a long title that essentially boils down to helping Mulkey’s players navigate the Name, Image and Likeness landscape and maximize their earnings potential in the short window of opportunity that most have on the national stage.
She’s on the LSU bench for every game, but playing a supporting role while Mulkey, assistant coach and master strategist Bob Starkey, recent Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and LSU great Seimone Augustus, and other staffers have a direct in-game impact on helping Mulkey with instantaneous decisions before and during 40 minutes of competition.
Since being a manager at Louisiana Tech under another Basketball Hall of Famer, Leon Barmore, when Mulkey – also since enshrined in the Hoop Hall — was his chief assistant from 1992-97, Roberts hasn’t been noticed by outsiders though she’s been an important contributor to great success
In over 20 years and through hundreds of wins, Sunday was the first time in her adult life that she was, ever so briefly, in the spotlight.
Roberts came home with the Tigers for Sunday afternoon’s showcase game at Brookshire Grocery Arena, set up so Parkway superstar Mikaylah Williams could play a college game in her hometown. A crowd of 8,299 enjoyed the spectacle.
Roberts, a 1992 Evangel Christian Academy graduate, hadn’t noticed her name if it ever was announced on the public address system before tipoff since her days playing for the Lady Eagles.
She did Sunday. And hearing it and the cheers meant the world, because she was home again, savoring every moment from the time the team arrived from Baton Rouge until the Tigers pulled away from the arena Sunday evening.
“It was very special,” said Roberts before LSU headed south. “We had a (Saturday night) dinner with so many people from north Louisiana I haven’t seen for a long time, and it was beautiful. Then here at the arena, hearing my name called, seeing people I went to high school with, Louisiana Tech with, it was amazing.
“It was a great feeling to feel the love and support of so many people from north Louisiana.”
Unfairly asked if there were any particularly poignant reunions, Roberts admitted she was overwhelmed.
“There’s too many to name, so many I didn’t get to talk to or take a picture with, but it was really beautiful to see them,” she said.
Among those visiting Sunday were Amanda Wilson, her Evangel teammate, who lived with Roberts’ family during their high school years and starred for the Lady Techsters after Mulkey won a recruiting battle.
Nearly 30 years later, the game has gone through some on-court changes, but women’s basketball is going through massive evolution – a tremendous rise in popularity just as the NIL age has begun, giving players the chance to not only make living expenses in college, but in some cases – quite a few at LSU – to make millions.
Roberts knows basketball. She was a successful AAU coach in Shreveport before joining Mulkey’s Baylor coaching staff for eight seasons until shifting into primarily an administrative and operations role, and overseeing the academic progress of the student-athletes. She has maintained that responsibility at LSU and with the advent of NIL, her days are busier than ever.
“It’s a full time job. With this program, it’s a double-time full time job, but it’s great to help our players handle the NIL landscape. The interest in LSU basketball you saw here today is like this everywhere we go,” she said, noting that’s just what is plain for the eye to see. Get on social media and other platforms, and the impact mushrooms.
That creates opportunities for players to profit, but also presents tough decisions, the need to make good business decisions and manage money, and to navigate challenges. Roberts is there to help, to coach the Tigers in ways that will have a much longer impact on their lives than jump shots, rebounds or defensive stops.
She embraces the role. Over her own homecoming weekend, as she continues to enjoy a career that has brought her to the top of the women’s college basketball world, Roberts was thankful for her own personal One Shining Moment.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com