Support Staff Renee’ Braud • Administrative Assistant Renee’ Braud is a long-time member of the LSU Athletic Department. She has worked in the department for 18 years and is in her 16th season working with the women’s basketball program. As the administrative assistant, Braud handles the front office for the program and her duties are many and varied. She is responsible for all of the day-to-day operations of the women’s basketball office, which includes but is not limited to maintaining Coach Nikki Fargas’ calendar as well as assisting with managing the summer camps, on-campus recruiting visits, the recruiting database, the postseason banquet and the budget. Braud is a vital liaison to the booster organization, the Give & Geaux Club, and assists the organization with membership as well as key events such as the bowling and golf tournaments. In addition, she is heavily involved in Lady Tiger alumni relations, which also includes coordinating the Alumni weekend. Prior to joining the women’s basketball staff, Braud worked two season with Tiger Football. She and her husband, Stan Braud, Jr., have three daughters: Kailey, Alli and Riley.
Micki Collins • Associate Athletic Trainer Micki Collins enters her 16th year as an associate athletic trainer at LSU, and her 15th season working with the Lady Tiger basketball team. In addition to her duties as the athletic trainer for the women’s basketball team, Collins serves as the primary athletic trainer for the LSU swimming and diving teams and assists with the women’s tennis team. She served as the primary athletic trainer for the Tiger volleyball team in her first season at LSU. Collins has a master’s degree in sports pedagogy from LSU and earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of Nebraska in 2000. While at Nebraska, Collins worked as a student trainer for the nationally-ranked Cornhusker football team and for the women’s basketball and gymnastics teams. The Chariton, Iowa, native is certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association, having completed her certification requirements in April 2000. She has also worked various camps for volleyball and women’s basketball both at Nebraska and at LSU. She married Ken Collins in July of 2005, and they have a six-year-old son, Granger and a three-year-old daughter, Gia. Collins was presented the Sue Gunter Award at the 2015-16 team banquet.
Jennifer Rodrigues • Senior Associate Communications Director Jennifer Rodrigues is in her second year with the Sports Information staff. She is the primary contact for women’s basketball, and assists with the day-to-day media relations responsibilities with the football program. A native of Slidell, La., Rodrigues came to LSU after a 17-year stint in Memphis, Tenn. She served in multiple capacities during her 16-year career at the University of Memphis, including as the assistant athletic director for media relations and as a marketing manager in the Division of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing. She was an account executive at inferno, an advertising agency in Memphis, prior to her appointment at LSU. Rodrigues worked with the U of M Athletic Department’s media relations office from 1998-2012. She was named Director of Athletic Media Relations at the start of the 2004 football season, and was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations in spring 2010. She was responsible for the publicity and promotion of the Tiger football team, as well as overseeing the Athletics Media Relations Office. In 2005, she spearheaded a highly-publicized Heisman Trophy campaign for running back DeAngelo Williams. Rodrigues received her bachelor’s degree in journalism at UL-Lafayette in 1995. While at ULL, she was a student assistant in the sports information office from 1991 to 1995, handling the publicity for volleyball and the nationally-ranked softball team. She has also worked in sports information at Northern Arizona and Mississippi State. She and her husband, Mike, have a daughter, Ally.
Melissa Seal • Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coordinator Melissa Seal, one of the top strength and conditioning coordinators in women’s basketball, enters her 11th season working with the Lady Tiger basketball team. Seal, a native of Enon, La., also coordinates the strength and conditioning of the LSU softball team. Seal came to LSU after stints at both Georgia Tech and Elon University as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. She spent two years at Georgia Tech working with the Yellow Jackets’ softball and women’s tennis programs after a brief stint working with Elon University baseball, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s basketball and track teams. While earning her master’s degree at Southern Miss, Seal spent two years working with the football, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, tennis, softball and volleyball programs. She earned her undergraduate degree from Southern Miss in 2000. Seal and her husband, Kevin, have a daughter Aubrey who was born in February 2014. The family lives in Baton Rouge.
Cokie Reed Administrative Graduate Assistant
Mark Membreno Graduate Manager
Cokie Reed joined the Lady Tigers in summer 2016 as a graduate assistant. The Waco, Texas, native was a McDonald’s All-American out of Midway High School and signed with the University of Texas in 2009. She was plagued by injuries and missed the 2010-11 season before retiring from basketball in 2013, midway through her senior season. Reed graduated from UT in spring 2013 with a degree in corporate communications. Upon her graduation, she was one of 12 applicants selected from a pool of 1200 to serve as a brand ambassador for Oscar Mayer Foods for a year. In that capacity, she traveled the country in the 27-foot-long Wienermobile, interacting with thousands of people and marketing the company’s products along the way. She was the marketing communications manager at Baylor for the business school before spending the last year at her alma mater, Midway High, teaching professional communications while coaching freshman volleyball and junior varsity basketball. She was also an assistant for the varsity squad that was a 6A regional finalist.
Mark Membreno is in his first season as a graduate manager with the women’s basketball program. He started assisting with the team in 2015 as an intern to fulfill his internship class requirement. In that role with the Lady Tigers, he assisted with filming practice footage as well as other duties with the student managers. He received his bachelor’s degree in sports administration from LSU in December 2015 and continued to volunteer by shooting practice video and working closely with video coordinator, Mike Harkness, to learn how to cut and organize practice and game footage. Membreno was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon while an undergraduate at LSU and volunteered regularly in the chapter’s philanthropic and charitable events. The Dallas, Texas, native prepped at Hebron High and played basketball in school and on AAU teams. He is working on his master’s degree in public administration.
2016-17 Student Managers Pictured (L-R): Kayla Lee, Tajai McCollum, Harry Dilosa, Hailey Kuhns, Malcolm Poree, Ahmonya Edwards, Daja Gilliam
2016-17 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE
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