Kyra Elzy became the eighth head coach of the University of Kentucky women’s basketball program, and just the second Kentucky native to hold the honor, when she took over in 2020-21. In her short tenure, she has already broken numerous program and league records.

Elzy became the program’s first head coach to take a team to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments to begin a tenure. She also tied the SEC Tournament record for the best eight-game start of any head coach in SEC history, after boasting a 7-1 record through her first eight games at the conference championship. That included leading UK to the 2022 SEC Tournament crown, becoming just the fifth head coach in league history to guide a program to a tournament title in their first two years on the job.

The Wildcats’ run to the tournament title made history on its own, marking their first since 1982. Kentucky, which was the seventh seed, became the second-lowest seed to ever win the SEC Tournament, while it became the only No. 7 seed in any power-five conference championship to ever defeat the No. 1, 2, and 3 seeds en route to the tournament title.

Following her first season at the helm, Elzy was named the 2021 WBCA Rookie Coach of the Year. Before that, she spent eight seasons as an assistant coach for Kentucky, including six of those years as associate head coach. In her decade experience at Kentucky, the 'Cats have been to the NCAA Tournament eight times, including two NCAA Elite Eights, claimed both SEC Regular Season and SEC Tournament titles, had a winning season nine times, including six 20-win seasons and six 10+ wins in league play. She has coached six WNBA Draft picks at Kentucky, including the No. 1 overall pick in 2022 – Rhyne Howard.