"He has been by my side from beginning": LSU HC Kim Mulkey bids adieu to long-time coaching companion Johnny Derrick with heartfelt retirement wishes

LSU coach Kim Mulkey's long-time staff member Johnny Derrick announced his retirement on Thursday. The now-LSU assistant athletic director began his career at Baylor in 2000 as an assistant coach to Mulkey and later, followed her to Baton Rouge.

Coach Mulkey, in a statement, thanked Derrick for all his contributions, saying:

“He is one of the most loyal, compassionate, and good people I know and a lot of the success we have enjoyed through the years has been in large part because of Johnny. He has been by my side from the beginning and never missed a single game.

"In fact, he has more wins than I do because I missed a couple of games due to kidney stones and Covid. Everything he did elevated what I have been able to do as a coach. I could not be more grateful to have a person like Johnny on my staff and by my side for 24 seasons.”

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A look at Johnny Derrick's collegiate career with Kim Mulkey

During his seven-year stint as an assistant coach at Baylor, Johnny Derrick helped the Lady Bears in the Big 12 and NCAA Championship win in 2005. After this, he transitioned into an operations role to handle all of Baylor’s off-court responsibilities and ensured that the program ran smoothly.

In 2015, Derrick was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director at Baylor, taking care of every single managerial detail. In his 21 years with the Lady Bears, the team had two more championships in 2012 and 2019.

When coach Kim Mulkey relocated to LSU, he also joined her. In his three years as the AAD, Derrick has played a vital role, especially in their 10-2 March Madness run and the 2023 National Championship.

Johnny Derrick's most notable work at Baton Rouge was helping its Fast Break Club, the booster club for LSU Women’s Basketball, reach record membership. The end-of-season banquet in 2023 had around 1000 attendees, a first for the program.

Derrick also expressed his gratitude to coach Kim Mulkey for the past 24 years and said (via lsusports.net):

"Working for Coach Mulkey and in the game of basketball has allowed me to meet some amazing people in the game as well as see many parts of our country and the world.

"I’m proud and honored to have visited the White House and celebrated our four national championships with the last four presidents of the United States,” he said.

In his college career, Johnny Derrick had four national championships and 23 conference titles in the regular season and conference tournament.