The first major domino has fallen in the coaching carousel. Kentucky announced Monday morning that Kyra Elzy was fired following her fourth season in Lexington. The Wildcats, who won the SEC tournament in 2022, had gone 6-26 in the last two seasons.
The move by Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart is interesting because it comes at a significant cost to the Wildcats. Elzy signed a contract extension after winning the 2022 SEC tournament that would keep her as head coach through the 2026-27 season. By removing Elzy now, Kentucky’s athletic department will be paying out the remainder of her contract — $2.475 million — unless both parties agree to different terms or she is hired elsewhere before the end of her contract in June 2027. Kentucky is also completing an $82 million renovation of Memorial Coliseum that is expected to be ready for the 2024-25 season — in time for a new women’s basketball era.
Advertisement
Barnhart isn’t messing around. He sees what’s going on in the women’s basketball world and doesn’t want his program to be left behind. Kentucky is paying significant money to get rid of Elzy, so expect the Wildcats to swing for the fences here to return to relevancy in a deepening SEC and national landscape.
Names to watch
Jeff Walz, Louisville head coach
Even if only to get away from ACC officials, perhaps Walz would consider a move to the SEC. The Kentucky native began as an assistant at Western Kentucky before making assistant coaching stops at Nebraska, Minnesota and Maryland before landing at Louisville in 2007. He has led the Cardinals to eight Elite Eights, four Final Fours and twice to the title game, where they lost in 2009 and 2013. He has the resume and has shown he can pivot both within games and from season to season through the transfer portal.
Kenny Brooks, Virginia Tech head coach
What Brooks has built at Virginia Tech is special. Though it’s hard to imagine the Virginia native who has spent his entire life in the state leaving, if you’re Barnhart, you’ve gotta make the call. In less than a decade, Brooks turned Virginia Tech, which had won 10 total conference games in the three seasons before his arrival, into an ACC tournament and regular-season champion. After the Hokies’ Final Four run, Brooks signed a contract extension last summer, paying him $6.4 million over six years. The Wildcats would be spending a lot to bring Brooks to Lexington, but it would be money well spent.
Matthew Mitchell, former Kentucky head coach
Perhaps Barnhart doesn’t need to look outside of Lexington for the next head coach … maybe he just brings back the guy who led the program to three Elite Eights? Mitchell, who amassed a 333-162 record with the Wildcats, stepped down in 2020 after undergoing brain surgery and dealing with a recovery process that he said was “life-altering for me and my family.” But Mitchell still lives in Lexington, is still beloved by the fan base and athletic department, and there are whispers that he might want to get back on the sideline. Where better to do that than UK?
Advertisement
Jenny Boucek, Indiana Pacers assistant
Look no further than the recently crowned Pac-12 tournament champs — Lindsay Gottlieb and USC — to see how well a recent NBA assistant has done at the college level. Especially in this shifting time of college athletics, it might benefit a high-profile program to have someone more familiar with a less-amateur approach to players and the team. Boucek has worked in the NBA since 2017 and spent the previous two decades in the WNBA coaching ranks, but the Tennessee native could be an incredibly exciting hire for a program looking to boost its player development and relevancy. There happens to be a pretty well-connected Kentucky person already working with Boucek — Fever GM Lin Dunn. Hard to say how much Dunn, who was a part of Kentucky’s staff from 2016-22, would influence this decision, but it doesn’t hurt.
(Top photo of Jeff Walz: Lance King / Getty Images)