UK women’s basketball coach Elzy fired after 4 seasons

Ryan Black

LEXINGTON — Kentucky women's basketball is in the market for a new coach, firing Kyra Elzy Monday after four seasons at the helm. Elzy went 61-60 during her tenure, with a 23-40 mark in SEC play.

“I appreciate Kyra for her efforts at Kentucky, on and off the court, and wish her and her family the best in the future,” Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement Monday.

Her dismissal comes less than a week after border rival (and longtime women's hoops power) Tennessee bounced UK from the SEC Tournament. Kentucky lost, 76-62, in the second round in Greenville, South Carolina.

The defeat brought an end to a dismal campaign for the Wildcats, who finished 12-20 overall and went 4-12 in league games during the regular season. The 2023-24 season followed an equally dreary 2022-23 season, when UK went 12-19 — with its 2-14 mark in SEC play the worst in the 14-team conference.

The past two seasons were a swift fall from grace for Elzy and the Wildcats.

Especially given the preceding two seasons.

In 2020-21, Elzy's first as coach, UK went 18-9 (9-6 SEC), finished ranked among the top 20 in both the USA TODAY Coaches and Associated Press polls and defeated five top-15 foes en route to an NCAA Tournament bid. Elzy became the first coach in program history to earn an NCAA Tournament berth in her maiden campaign.

The Wildcats followed that up with a 19-12 (8-8 SEC) showing in 2021-22, which included an upset of top-ranked South Carolina in the SEC Tournament championship game. That Gamecocks squad went on to capture the national title. After UK's upset in the conference title tilt, it lost 40 of its next 64 games before the Elzy era came to a close.

Barnhart tabbed Elzy as the eighth coach in program history on Dec. 14, 2020, removing the interim tag that had been been affixed to her name for a month after the retirement of former head coach Matthew Mitchell.

Prior to taking over for Mitchell, Elzy had served as the team's associate head coach for four seasons (2016-17 through 2019-20) and had a prior assistantcoaching stint on the staff from 200809 through 2011-12. Elzy also worked as an assistant at Tennessee (2012-13 through 2015-16), Kansas (2004-05 through 2007-08) and Western Kentucky (2002-03 and 2003-04). She began her coaching career as an administrative assistant at Virginia Tech during the 2001-02 season.

SAM UPSHAW JR./COURIER JOURNAL UK head coach Kyra Elzy was upset with a series of plays by her team against U of L during their game in Louisville on Dec. 10.