Terms of Kyra Elzy’s contract extension revealed. Here’s everything the UK coach gets.
Kentucky has furthered its commitment to Kyra Elzy as head coach of the UK women’s basketball program, revealing terms of her new contract Friday.
UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart recently announced Elzy would receive a contract extension that would keep her as Kentucky head coach through the 2026-27 season but no details were made available at that time.
Elzy’s prior contract as head coach ran through June 2026 with a base salary of $400,000 per year. She was named full-time head coach in December 2020, after briefly leading the team on an interim basis after the resignation of former head coach Matthew Mitchell just prior to the season.
Elzy owns a 37-21 record, including a 17-14 mark in regular season Southeastern Conference games at Kentucky and led the Wildcats to a stunning turnaround last season as the team won 10 of its final 11 games and stormed to the SEC Tournament title in Nashville, defeating eventual national champions South Carolina in the SEC title game.
This was Kentucky’s first SEC Tournament championship since 1982.
According to Elzy’s contract, she earned a $50,000 bonus for winning the SEC Tournament.
“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,” Barnhart said in a statement announcing Elzy’s new contract. “A strong step in building the championship vision we all have for this program.”
Here’s a look inside Elzy’s new deal as Wildcats head coach, and how it compares to her prior contract.
Length
Previous: Elzy’s previous contract ran through June 2026.
New: Elzy’s new contract is effective as of April 1, 2022, and runs through June 30, 2027.
Money
Previous: Elzy’s previous contract featured a base salary of $400,000 per year and $175,000 per year from multi-media deals and endorsements that Elzy participates in through Kentucky.
New: Elzy’s new contract still features a base salary of $400,000 per year, but the amount of money she will receive from multi-media deals and endorsements will increase significantly.
From April 1, 2022, to June 30, 2022, Elzy will receive $87,500 in multi-media deal and endorsement money.
Then, the changes become apparent starting this summer.
From July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, Elzy will receive $350,000 in multi-media deal and endorsement money.
From July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, Elzy will receive $375,000 in that category.
From July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, Elzy will receive $400,000.
From July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, Elzy will receive $425,000.
And from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, Elzy will receive $450,000.
This means that between her base salary and multi-media deal and endorsement money, Elzy will receive $750,000 for the 2022-23 season, $775,000 for the 2023-24 season, $800,000 for the 2024-25 season, $825,000 for the 2025-26 season and $850,000 for the 2026-27 season.
Incentives
Previous: Elzy’s previous contract included incentives for several different on-court performances, such as becoming SEC regular-season champions ($75,000) and SEC Tournament champions ($50,000), which were cumulative bonuses.
Other incentives for on-court performance included reaching the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 ($75,000), reaching the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight ($150,000), reaching the NCAA Tournament Final Four ($250,000) and winning the NCAA Tournament championship ($500,000). These bonuses were not cumulative, and Elzy was to receive only the one equal to the highest amount.
As it happened, Elzy only triggered one of these on-court incentives under her old contract: The $50,000 bonus for winning the SEC Tournament in March.
New: These parts of Elzy’s contract remain the same.
Additional benefits
Previous: Elzy’s previous contract allowed her several additional benefits that came with her role as UK women’s basketball head coach.
She was to be provided 20 “prime, lower-level tickets” for each Kentucky women’s basketball home game and four tickets to each UK men’s basketball home game. Elzy was also to receive four tickets to every UK football home game.
Elzy was provided with one “late-model, quality automobile” for both official and personal use.
Elzy also received a membership to Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville.
New: These parts of Elzy’s contract remain the same.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 2:05 PM.
