Kim Mulkey has known Alexis Morris since she was in seventh grade. Morris attended her basketball camps in Texas and eventually joined her Baylor team in 2017, but their journey together became a lot more complicated a year later.
Morris was dismissed ahead of the 2018-19 season for what the school described back then as an unspecified violation of team rules, which meant the she had to watch from afar as Mulkey earned her third national title with Baylor. Morris eventually made her way back to Mulkey, and she couldn't have been happier as the two of them were part of LSU's first NCAA Tournament championship with a 102-85 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday.
Morris was one of the top contributors all season, and the title game was no different as she picked up 21 points, nine assists and two rebounds in her final college game.
"Coach, we got it back. I appreciate you for giving me the opportunity. You've always been a winner in my eyes, ever since I was 12 years old," Morris said. "It's hard to explain the feeling. It's kind of like, in a way, Coach Mulkey's an amazing person. She knows how to get the best out of me. She's been knowing me since I was a child literally.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to have the type of relationship with another coach that I have with Coach Mulkey because it's special. It's different."
It's been a long journey, but one that proved to be well worth it. Mulkey admitted that the decision to dismiss Morris at Baylor had been a very difficult one to make.
"I had sleepless nights over it because I loved Alexis. There are many people you dismiss from a team and you say good riddance. You're a cancer in the locker room. She was not," the coach said.
The two of them didn't talk while Morris played for Rutgers (2019-20) or Texas A&M (2020-21).
However, Morris reached out to Mulkey when she became the head coach at LSU in 2021.
"She basically said, 'coach, I need you in my life. I'm coming back to play for you.' You're thinking, 'this is a kid who owned her mistake,'" Mulkeky said. "This is a kid who never blamed a coach. How many of those articles do you write? Everybody likes to go, 'oh, the coach is a bad person. Oh, the coach did this.' Alexis would never let them write that story."
So the coach welcomed her to LSU with arms wide open.
Mulkey said Morris always had a great smile and spunk. She also said Morris never disrespected her in any way, but dismissing her from Baylor was something that needed to be done.
"It was for the sake of the locker room and the sake of making a tough decision to not lose your team. Those decisions, a lot of coaches don't want to make," she said.
The coach explained that Morris understood why she was dismissed in 2018 and took full responsibility. That level of maturity is what earned her a second chance.
"She did it to herself. And you wonder why some coaches will take a kid like that back? That is a valuable lesson for all of us as parents. Parents want to blame coaches," Mulkey said. "And look where she's sitting today. Look where she is sitting today. What a remarkable story."
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