Kentucky fired women’s basketball coach Kyra Elzy on March 11, after consecutive losing seasons that followed the Wildcats’ first Southeastern Conference Tournament championship since 1982.
Kentucky fell 76-62 to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament on Thursday to conclude an 11-20 finish, including 4-12 in league play during the regular season. Elzy was 61-60 in four seasons and 8-3 in the conference tournament, but Kentucky has failed to reach the quarterfinal round in two seasons since winning the title. This season’s bottom-half finish follows last season’s 12-19 mark (2-14 SEC).
Athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a news release that he appreciated Elzy’s efforts at Kentucky on and off the court and wished her and her family “the best in the future.”
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The Wildcats struggled down the stretch, with 10 losses in 13 games, including a season sweep by No. 1 South Carolina by an average of 55 points. Kentucky has struggled against other SEC opponents, with four recent losses by at least 14 points.
Elzy, a former Tennessee player, had served several stints totaling eight years as a Kentucky assistant under Matthew Mitchell, most recently from 2016-20 as associate head coach. Mitchell’s sudden retirement just before the 2020-21 season thrust her into the interim coaching role, with that tag removed that December following an impressive start to the season.
Elzy’s initial squad, which featured two-time SEC Player of the Year and eventual three-time first-team All-American guard Rhyne Howard, reached the SEC Tournament quarterfinals and NCAA Tournament’s second round. A remarkable run to the SEC championship followed the next spring, capped by a 64-62 upset of top-ranked South Carolina in the tournament final on Edwards’ late game-winning 3-pointer.
The sixth-seeded Wildcats fell to No. 11 seed Princeton in the NCAA first round. Howard went on to become the program’s first No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick, selected by the Atlanta Dream.
Kentucky has struggled to follow up that milestone, and injuries this season haven’t helped; the Wildcats used 12 starting combinations and the same starters for just five recent games.
Elzy also was an assistant coach at Tennessee, where she won two national championships as a player under Hall of Famer Pat Summitt from 1996-2001, and at Kansas and Western Kentucky.
