Kyra Elzy gets contract extension

After leading the Kentucky Wildcats women’s basketball program to its first SEC Tournament title in 40 years, head coach Kyra Elzy has signed a contract extension through the 2027 season, UK announced Monday.

“I will always believe that there is no better place in the world for a young woman to live out her academic and athletic careers than the University of Kentucky,” Elzy said in a press release. “I want to thank Mr. Barnhart, President Capilouto and our women’s basketball administrator Tiffany Hayden for believing in me and having a shared vision for this great program.

“I am 100% confident in what we offer our student-athletes here at Kentucky. Our coaches and staff commit ourselves daily to our players. Their individual successes, on and off the court, is our collective success as a program. As seasons come and go, our focus and commitment haven’t and won’t waver from the expectations set for this program.

“We have a core group of talented and driven players returning along with an exciting group of signees that cannot wait to wear those eight letters across the front of their jersey. They model the core values our program will continue to be built on: Accountability, Hard Work, Discipline, Servant Leadership and FAMILY. We are counting down the days until we can all be together again inside Memorial Coliseum.

“Until then, we will continue to work to bring home more championships.”

This season, Elzy led Kentucky to just the second SEC Tournament title in program history and the first since 1982. Kentucky was the second-lowest seed ever to win the SEC Tournament and the fourth team to defeat the No. 1 team in the AP Poll in the SEC Tournament finals.

Elzy’s Wildcats became the only No. 7 seed in any Power 5 conference tournament ever to defeat the No. 1, 2, and 3 seeds to earn the conference tournament title.

On the way to the title, Elzy led Kentucky to wins over Mississippi State, No. 6-ranked LSU, No. 18-ranked Tennessee and No. 1-ranked South Carolina, the latter of which went on to win the NCAA championship.

Elzy is now 37-21 in her first two seasons as head coach of the Wildcats.

“We’re excited to extend Kyra and continue our investment in women’s basketball and in her as a coach and positive role model in our community,” said UK AD Mitch Barnhart in a press release. “After the adversity the team faced throughout the season, the turnaround at the end of the year was impressive – defeating the eventual national champion and winning our first SEC Tournament Championship in 40 years, a strong step in building the championship vision we all have for this program.”