Kyra Elzy has a plan to build Kentucky women’s basketball after frenetic first season
When she needed to clear her head this offseason, Kyra Elzy went to the beach.
The seaside retreat allowed Elzy to comprehend and contemplate, to take stock following a whirlwind first season as Kentucky women’s basketball head coach.
On Nov. 12, less than two weeks before Kentucky’s first game of the 2020-21 season, former head coach Matthew Mitchell abruptly resigned. Elzy, the team’s associate head coach, was promoted to interim head coach.
That title became permanent on Dec. 14 following a 6-0 start to the season and an AP top-10 ranking for the Wildcats.
What followed was a 10-7 finish to the regular season, as Kentucky ended the year fifth in the SEC regular season standings and forward Rhyne Howard earned conference player of the year honors for a second straight season.
The Wildcats, who went 9-6 in conference play, won one game each in both the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament before Elzy’s challenging first season came to a close.
Once this self-described “baptism by fire” ended, Elzy went away to reflect, and in the process sharpened her vision for what she wants her Kentucky program to be.
“One of the things that I talked to the staff about, the culture, that was really important to me, making sure that we were recruiting the type of kid that fit the style of play that we wanted to play,” Elzy said. “But also off the court, I’m looking for high-character athletes that want to achieve academic success. We have always been a blue-collar, roll up your sleeves, go to work type of program, so it was really important to make sure that was the type of kid that we were finding at Kentucky.”
Of all the factors that played a part in Elzy’s first season as head coach — from playing during both the coronavirus pandemic and social unrest across the country, as well as the way she earned the job — the one thing Elzy said she underestimated a year ago was the impact of missing a summer for her Kentucky team to form on and off-court bonds.
“You’re just thrown into practice, and then into games. So when adversity hits, everybody kind of goes into survival mode,” Elzy said. “You know it as an assistant coach, the importance of relationships and bonding, but I think moving over that was probably one of the things that I learned the most, making sure we are investing in our players, they’re investing in each other and really having the type of team chemistry to carry you throughout the season.”
Team cohesion is a focus this offseason as Kentucky loses four players from last season’s team, including three end-of-season starters in guard Chasity Patterson, an SEC All-Defensive Team selection in 2021, and forwards KeKe McKinney and Tatyana Wyatt.
The Wildcats brought in only one new player this offseason: Freshman guard Jada Walker.
This represents the fewest number of new, eligible players on a Kentucky roster since at least the 2014-15 season.
But, changes did occur to Elzy’s coaching staff during her first offseason as head coach.
Elzy said assistant coach Niya Butts is now the associate head coach, former UK player and assistant coach Amber Smith now serves as the recruiting coordinator for the program and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member Gail Goestenkors joined Kentucky as an assistant coach.
“I have hit the jackpot as far as staff, there’s not many people early in their head coaching career that have two (Women’s Basketball) Hall of Famers on their staff,” Elzy said, referencing Goestenkors and Lin Dunn, who serves as a special assistant to the head coach.
Elzy also said Lee Taylor is the program’s new strength and conditioning coach, reuniting the duo after they previously worked together at Tennessee.
As Elzy has begun to shape the Kentucky program, Howard, now a senior, agreed that team chemistry has been an offseason focus.
“What we’re trying to improve on has nothing to do with even on the court. We just want to have good chemistry,” Howard said. “We’re here during the summer, we have time to be with each other prior to the season and to just get to know one another and see how everyone likes to play.”
Howard, the two-time SEC Player of the Year who was also named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2019, didn’t spend her entire summer in Lexington, though.
Howard represented her country yet again this summer, playing with the United States women’s basketball team at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in Puerto Rico. She earned tournament MVP honors as the Americans rolled to a 6-0 showing and a gold medal.
“Just having fun and getting to play for your country is big in itself,” Howard said. “This year, it was a little bit different with COVID because we couldn’t go out in Puerto Rico, like experience it outside of basketball. But it was so great to be there and just to learn.”
Kentucky women’s basketball gives back
The Kentucky women’s basketball program got plenty of statewide exposure in July by holding a series of “Give Back Clinics” around Kentucky.
The four-stop tour saw the Wildcats hold clinics in Pikeville, Louisville, Somerset and Oldham County, with several stops holding personal connections to Wildcats coaches and players.
“Last year with COVID, I didn’t, along with staff, have the opportunity to be out and really connect with the people due to the pandemic,” Elzy said. “So this year, we wanted to get out and not just be in Lexington, but across the state. There are so many Big Blue Nation fans that love Kentucky women’s basketball that might not have the opportunity to travel to one of our games.”
Kentucky sophomore guard Erin Toller, who missed significant time during her high school career at Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville due to knee injuries, helped run the Give Back Clinic at Sacred Heart on July 15.
“Everybody just seemed so happy,” Toller said of the clinic, while noting her surprise that so many people at the event knew who she was. “I want everybody to feel like they were a part of something (even if) they may not be on the team.”
The statewide tour concluded last Saturday at Oldham County High School, where Elzy won two regional titles and made a state semifinals as a player in the 1990s.
Unlike Toller, there wasn’t room for Elzy to doubt if those at her high school home remembered her: Ahead of the program’s appearance in Oldham County, Elzy’s name was displayed on the marquee of the local Dairy Queen.
“We have unbelievable support and we talk to our players about, ‘You have to lead with a servant’s heart,’” Elzy said. “You have to be able to give of yourself. This, it’s bigger than all of us.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 7:29 AM.
