In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Welcome to another episode of In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams here on iHeartRadio and you guys, I'm so excited about this week. I told you all this show is becoming legendary because of the guests that
have been coming through week to week. So today's guest, she was a two thousand and six number one WNBA draft pick, a four time WNBA champion with the Minnesota Links, a time WNBA All Star, three time Olympic gold medalist, and newly named assistant coach on the LSU women's basketball staff. Please welcome to the show, Simon, I got sis.
Thank you. Hey.
So, before we start the interview, I want to know two things. How's the farm doing? And how's Shrek doing? Because I kind of.
Doctor Instagram a little bit, but I love that you know you have a farm.
Look, if my mom just called me, Shrek has been getting out and we don't have any idea how he's getting out, Like we've been walking the fence lines trying to find the different holes or whatever. But he'll just pop up and be in our neighbor's yard like walking around, or he'll pop up and be at our front door, and we're like, how did you get out? So we've been calling him Houdini as of late because we have no idea how Shrek is getting out. But he keeps
our lives like interesting, he keeps us sharp. I tell my mom and my dad. I'm like, he keeps you young because you gotta be active to keep up with what Shrek is doing out there on the farm.
Listen, absolutely love that in Winter's Coming.
But this year you received four different Hall of Fame honors, with the most recent one being the Natesmith Basketball Hall of Fame honor. How does it feel to be recognized alongside the greatest players in the history of the game.
I mean, with you even saying that, it just still doesn't process. Like when I was in the room, I'm looking around, it's like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, you know, Magic Johnson, all these different players that have had their moments and times like we grew up watching them, and you just never kind of put yourself in that position, like even though you love the game, but I'm sitting in that room, and I'm just like at times, like
should I be here? But then you look at your accomplishments and your accolades and the things that you've done for the game, and you're like, yeah, I should be here, and it's just a matter of you know, just kind of like emerging in a moment, just kind of like soaking it up and just letting it sink in.
And it still really hasn't sunk in.
But it was an amazing experience and you know, obviously thankful for that honor.
I absolutely enjoyed your Hall of Fame speech. It was so creative. What inspired you to create that speech?
Going to four Hall of Fames? I said, through I don't know how many speeches. I mean, we've all been through some, you know, seminars and things like that, and you see some that are like awesome and then others like all right, come on, let's get it over with. And so for the finale, I just was like, you know,
I want to try something new. We've all heard the same stories, like I grew up, I played basketball coach yah da da, And immediately when they called me about what my speech was going to be or what I was going to say what I was gonna write. It just came to I was like, I'm gonna do a poem. Didn't know what poem, didn't know how.
I was gonna do.
I'm not a poet, so I'm just like, all right, I'm gonna do a poem. Once I put that in the air, it was like I had to execute it. And so fortunately for me, I have great friends. I told one of my friends that I wanted to do it, and so she passed me on a Black poet named Nikki Giovanni. Her Loved Poems book, and so I started reading that and just kind of getting a flow and seeing how she did everything, and I just kind of
started to piece it together piece by piece. It took me about, you know, two or three months to actually assemble it structure it. And then after that I had to actually find a poet who is actually dope Charity Blackwell.
She's from DC.
She was at an event with me, and she introduced me by doing a poem at this particular event, and so me and her stayed connected and she helped me with the flow and the cadence and what to emphasize, even hand movements and things like that. So it was a long process, but it was worth it because I wanted to do something special, you know, on that last one and just kind of have fun with it.
Look, it was absolutely special.
I particularly loved how you immerse your Baton Rouge roots into the poem into just telling the history of your career. Take us back to your Baton Rouge roots. What shape your early love for basketball?
Well, that's just what it is.
That's why I had to like give pay some homage to where I'm from because I didn't have, you know, the Nike travel teams and all this stuff. So a lot of what I did was here right here in Baton Rouge. I went to different courts around town, played in different gyms.
Played at the funeral home one time.
Like, I was all over the places, kind of honing in my skills in Baton Rouge or in Louisiana, and so you just never know. It's people that I played against that would never get the credit because people would never know them, Like at different streetball courts. As you know, when you go in this part of town, you got people that could run fast, jump out, and this part of town you got people that are physical, and it gonna push down on the other part of the time,
you got people that trash talk. So everywhere I went, my game was just evolving, just based on the people that I played against and grew up with right here in Louisiana. So I had to, you know, give the respect what respect was due.
Coming up, you were one of the most highly recruited players from your town. And what was your reaction to that nineteen ninety nine Sports Illustrated from Women cover where they were comparing you to the likes of being the next Michael Jordan?
Blown away because I didn't have any idea that I was going to even be on the cover. The only thing that I knew was that Shamikel holst Law was.
Gonna be there.
And so at that time, you know, the three weeks Tennessee is popping, I'm like, SHAMIKEL Holslaw, I'm coming.
To the shoe.
I'm just excited to meet, you know, one of my favorite players, and not knowing that particular moment would change my life. Like once I was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and being tabbed as the next Michael Jordan.
People like who this girl is? Some people had never heard of me.
Some people knew like, oh no, she really is gonna be the next hot thing or whatever. But it was just a matter of now at that point or building up the character and the mental and physical strength and emotions to kind of like deal with the bulls out there that it's going to be placed on your back now that you've been tabbed this And I think that was probably, you know, for me, the best thing that ever happened, because I had to learn how to deal with.
Love, hate, I mean anything.
You can imagine people were trying to tear you down and prove that you weren't what they said.
You are full circle moment.
Now you are back at LSU, you're alma mater, and you're on the coaching staff as an assistant coach. What was that initial conversation like with coach Mogi about discussing you joining that staff.
You know, if you know Malkey, she just straight to the point.
She's just like I had, I had a coach that retired and I would love to have you on my staff. And from there it was about like a three or four week process where we just kind of went over the rod pay this that you know, everything that you would speak about in the interview process.
But the most important thing that's took out, you know, for.
Me was as a young coach, you want experience, you want to be able to learn from you know, great coaches, and she is that is she is what the third winning is coach in terms of championships in the NCAA. You know, she's won as an assistant coach, as a player, as a head coach, so winning is in her DNA. And if you're going to build up yourself as a new young coach, it's the best opportunity to actually put some elbow grease in and get your hands dirty, you know, with a coach that's.
Proven and you're a proven player.
I love how humble you are about like your resume in your career, but you bring so much to this LSU coaching staff.
We actually had Fla. J.
Johnson on this show a couple of weeks ago, and she talked about how amazing it was to be in sessions with you and how surreal it was, like she was just like being in these practice sessions with Simone.
It's like she has this glowing aura about her.
What do you hope to impart on the next generation of athletes as you begin your full coaching career.
You know, a lot of like that I can relate, Like I just literally just finished playing ball in twenty one, So I've been in all the places that you want to go, and I'm here with a wealth of knowledge that I'm willing to give away for free.
And it's not many.
People that are willing to do that, Like most people keep it for themselves or they make it hard for you because that's just what they've been taught to do.
But I'm like, no, Like, if you want to learn, I'm here.
And a lot of the sessions that I've had with Flage, like yeah, we on the basketball court and were talking and we you know, doing drills. But it's more about the mental capacity more than anything with this generation of players than it is anything physical, because they are amazing, like physically, they can do all the things that we were able to do, if not better, But you know it, it's about the mental maturity and the mental focus that
they need. And so that's kind of what I harp on as you know, one of the players that's been at a lead level for a long time.
What stands out to you about this LSU group coming in Obviously they're without injuries. Who has now moved on to the WNBA. But what are some of the things that you're seeing early on from this LSU group.
And what you just said is the thing that we talk about all the time is that people like, all right, well, who is LSU not?
At gone?
Angel was the leader. Angel was like leader on and off the court, points rebounds everything. So now we get to see a new set of leaders, a new set of followers, a new set of competitors, Like who's going to step up to this challenge and fill that role?
Which was a big role to fill.
And it may not be one person, it may be multiple people that have to step into those shoes. But who are you now that Angel has been removed? What is your identity? And so a lot of the ladies over the last few weeks we were starting to see they starting to learn how tough it is to lead and also how tough it is to follow, and also bring your best every day and make sure that your teammates are emotionally okay, and make sure the coaches are
all right. It's like a process, but it's a beautiful mix of chaos that has a number of opportunities for them all to grow.
And now obviously your coaching resume. You coached as an assistant on the Sparks. You were part of Athletes Unlimited, where I got to see personally do some of your coaching with AU. What are some things that you learned along the way that you're bringing with you to So.
Like with the Sparks, you know, that was my first gig and it was just more like observation. You know, got my hands with a little bit, but not really, but I just kind of like paid attention from Afar. With AU, it was a different mindset because as a player's led league. So if they wanted to practice, they practiced. If they didn't, they didn't. So when you think about that as it from a coach, coach of very hands on, some of them are micromanagers, like they want to do everything.
And at AU, it taught me how to be a coach. That's like, all right, I can step back, let me see how much my players know when they need me, I can guide them and a system if necessary, but I may not have to because they're smarter than we think. And so that's a new approach that you don't.
See many coaches kind of take everybody like I got it, I'm gonna do it.
And so I've always said I wanted to be different, and I think both situations kind of gave me like a moment to like observe and see what I would like to be by dudes and don't and then okay, I can be a hands off coach and allow them to like have their game and play free and feel the freedom of just expressing themselves on the court.
We're gonna take a quick break and when we come back. More from this conversation with Simona Augustus. You're the first female athlete to get a statue at LSU when you walk, when you're walking on the campus and throughout the campus, is it a little surreal to see yourself kind of immortalize in a bronze form?
Man, I walked up that thing.
Every day, I'm like, I come out the practice facility and it's like right there, and I'm like, hey, girl.
How you doing. I'm like, how you doing? Girl?
And you know, some people have started to leave like little trinkets on there, like you know, I'm into stones and stuff like that, so they'll leave like quartz crystals. And I've had the Mardi Gras baby that comes inside the king Cake, like people are starting to leave little trinkets there for like good luck and prosperity and stuff like that. I'm like, man, it's kind of cool, like, you know, for once, like people get to see a
woman in this image, but not just that. It's just like you homegrown, Like it's not many of us that leave here to go off to be successful, and if we do, we don't come back. And yet here I am like a living legend of statue walking around here that people can point to them and use that as inspiration. So more than anything that that fills me up.
You know, what's your most unforgettable LSU moment? Like as a player, you played with some legends alongside of you.
But what can you give us?
I would have to say our final four run to New Orleans.
That was our first final four and it was thirty minutes forty five minutes up the road. And that year was like very hard for us because that was the year that coach like got sick and we didn't really know the severity of the situation and so we were just kind of you know, powering through.
Weren't even supposed to be in a conversation for finding four.
You know, we didn't have the team, people were injured, so many things that happened that year, and we just you know, found a way to make that happen. And then we go forty five minutes down the road and I just remember pulling up to the you know, pulling up to the hotel, you know, how to find them four. It is is like you know, shiginage everywhere, people all around, and the second Line band started playing.
And I just remember one of the employees at the at the hotel for Good, she was at work and just started getting down. She started second line, the baby, she raised the dress up, started doing that thing, and we was like, oh, it's lit. It is lit.
So you know, that experience, just seeing so many people that followed us, that supported us for so long, even you know, before I got to LSU, just knowing the people that were there when half of the gym was closed off with a black curtain, and just waiting for that moment.
That was probably the biggest moment. And then most importantly like coach gonna being at home being sick. You know, we prouded ourselves that year.
I'm like, all right, if she's gonna watch the game, you know, for two hours, We're gonna give her the best two hours of our day. And so it filled us up like that fueled us to just want to do something special and it didn't end the way we wanted to, but we made a lot of people happy in the process.
You've been battle tested in your college career, and obviously you're a legend in women's basketball. Your impact goes beyond like whether you want a championship or not in college. I mean, you're godd retire jersey statues. The list goes on. But how do you define greatness in college basketball? I know that was a topic of discussion earlier this year with Kaitlyn Clark considering many all time grades have not necessarily won national championships in college?
How do you define that success?
You know what, I'm actually very honest with myself about it, because like when we talk about grade grades, they won a college like, they've won it every level. So yeah, I don't believe, like even for myself, like with all everything, statues and all of this, I don't put myself up there with them, you know, with the ones that have won, I don't, Like, let's be honest, because I base everything
off of championships. So if you didn't get that championship, and that's just one thing that it still gets me to this day. I'm like, ah, I felt like I could have had too. And then the fact that I'm here and one of the championships that I believe we should have won was won by coach Malkey. I have to hear about this every day, like two or three times a week. She talks about the Old five championship that they won, her first one, and I'm just like, yeah,
that was supposed to be ill win. And she said all the time, she was like that team was amazing, Like we didn't even think we was gonna win. Like I didn't even bring an extra outfit for the final game because I just didn't believe it.
And so with that, you know, I believe it goes based on championship.
Obviously, you're gonna have individual accolades, you're gonna do some amazing things, you're gonna break records and all that, and that's all fine and down.
But for me, if it doesn't equate to a championships, the rest is history.
It's just like a lot of work that was done and it was beautiful, but you didn't finish the project.
There it is.
You won four though with the Minnesota leaks. Why was that dynasty so special?
Exactly?
I made up for it on the other side, though, it was special because it's very rare that you have a team with so many great players that it just came together so beautifully.
Like most people have to deal with egos.
People don't want to sacrifice how many shots, this, that, that, and the other.
And it was never anything like that.
Like we understood what everybody brought to the table, our strengths, our weaknesses, and we all were at a point in our career where we wanted to win, like winning trump everything else. So you scoring twenty points, it don't matter if we ain't win the game, you know.
And we understood that.
We understood how easy our life would be by being able to play off each other. It was amazing to go to work every day, and a lot of people can't say that, like it felt amazing. I was like, im about to get up and go play ball with my friends. Let me get ready, you know, put my uniform on, and we.
Would go out there.
We beat up on the practice guys, and that preparation only made that a lot easier for us when we came to the games, like not disrespecting our opponents, but it just we had a flow up ourselves that.
It was very hard to stop.
And when I heard like after I retired, and everybody's giving you your flowers and so on and so forth, to hear so many opponents say Lord Jesus, when we had to play Minnesota, our nurse would be bad, practices would be longer.
We stayed in longer film sessions trying to figure out how to beat you and God for being y'all lost. Before y'all played us, we knew the game was going to be hell.
And I'm like, well, thank you because.
One of the greatest, greatest starting fives in WBA history. I say it all the time, like nobody was really beating that Minnesota team at the time.
Reflecting all all of that, you talked.
About your retirement and you joined the Sparks for your final season of your women's basketball career.
In hindsight, do you wish you'd had had like a.
Formal farewell tour or a last ride with the Lynks before retiring.
Well, obviously I wish I was with the Lynks, but the whole like ride out. I never wanted that, to be honest, I never wanted the full to do, but obviously my gold was to try to finish with the Links.
It didn't happen.
It happened as it should, and it gave me the opportunity to go out the way I wanted to, which was kind of privately, quietly.
Like kind of snuck out the back door and called it a day.
I never wanted the fanfare, even though I knew everybody wanted to do it, but I ended up getting it anyway, with this year, twenty twenty four being a Hall of Fame year, I ended up getting it in a different way.
So that was amazing.
What's your take on the new era of the Minnesota Links. They have a promising young corps led by Nafisa Collier.
They reached the finals.
Now whether or not they deserve to win that k vive is up for debate. But what's your take on the Links this season?
You know what I said it at the beginning when I saw him, just because I know that system, I know coach Reeves so well, I'm like, they gonna surprise a lot of people. And even when they got to the Commissioner's Cup and they beat them. I wasn't surprised. I'm like, they have been playing gray basketball and the FISA has found her way. She had solidified herself as one of the top players in this league and she plays.
Like that every night.
Now, Cheryl don't need much to win, but she has calea McBride, she has Courtney Williams. Now she has the pieces that she need in place in order to make things happen.
And that's kind of what we saw.
They were playing some of the best basketball I believe of anybody up, I mean other than New York who they faced in the finals. And it was an amazing series. I mean, regardless how it ended, it ended.
You know, we're gonna leave.
It a long for Cathy trying to send me a fine letter, but nah, it was amazing just to see them now, the confidence that they're gonna come back with next year, knowing you know, the type of players that Cheryl is probably gonna seek in free agency.
I mean, next year is gonna be up. We're gonna be back. I believe we'll be back in the finals, making a run for that number five.
Speaking of last calls, when the finals were happening in kandas Parker, your former opponent, there was that link Sparks rivalry. She brought up that twenty sixteen WNBA finals and the officiated with the shot clock violation on Neka Guma.
Kay, that basically handed the Sparks.
When what was your take or perspective on what happened during that game?
Oh, because Candice was in our favor, or.
She just brought up the bad officiating during that Kay.
Well to her point, I don't know about all the other cases throughout the game. I'm quite sure they had some little files here in there. But the shot clock violation was a violation, and Cheryl burned a time out for them to go and review that particular shot for the violation, and yet they did not go and review.
It, and that shot counted.
Had they took them two points off of that, we would have been up I don't know, four or six or whatever in the game, would however, many seconds left, so even with the office of rebound putback wouldn't matter.
We would have been We would have had a back to back.
But you know, I love it. I love it.
Okay, So can we expect to see you return to the WNBA one day?
Being a coach.
You know, never say never. But now that I'm homing to buy you, it might be hard for me to leave.
It might be hard for me to leave. But it's not impossible though, But so you never know.
I like that.
Okay, I want to end this on a positive note. On social media, you do fund segments called money moons, word of the day. So what mantra do you want to leave us with here?
Today?
You putting me on the spot. I hadn't even done my meditation and stuff for the day. I normally come up with it during that time.
You know what, It's funny because we just coach Molky did her little speech with the girls yesterday and she was just talking about the Saints and the struggles that they are having. And one of the articles basically say, it's not just on the field, it's off the field too. It's the way that the parking lot is set up from them parking in the wrong parking spots, so I
the wrong lot. All of this stuff, attention to detailed discipline, accountability, like all this stuff then shows up on the field one player missing the place, so on and so forth. And so I would say, how you do anything is how you do every everything. So if you are half ass something, then you're gonna get a half ass result. If you put everything into it and you really follow it, you do it to perfection. I think will Smith said
it when he talked about placing the brick. He like, I put that brick perfectly, and I put the next brick perfectly, and next thing, you know, I have a whole wall and it's amazing.
You know, it's an amazing wall.
So how you do anything, it's how you do everything, So do it right the first time.
I love that. And on that note, Simone, thank you for being here with us on In Case you missed It with Christina Williams.
Looking forward to seeing all that LSU does this college basketball season.
Best of luck and we'll be keeping an eye out on you.
Thank you.
Okay, that's gonna do it For this edition of In Case You missed It with Christina Williams. I just want to thank Simone Augustus again for coming through. I had so much fun chatting with her. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast, and the next episode we're gonna be previewing the WNBA Lottery Draft, So you don't want to.
Miss it, Stay tuned in case you missed it.
With Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.