‘Really do your homework.’ How Kenny Brooks and UK navigate the transfer portal
Kenny Brooks will sometimes liken today’s transfer portal process to speed dating.
Whether you’re a coach or a player in the portal, everybody has a good sense of what they want; for coaches, transfers have become a necessary piece of the ever-changing formula of building a successful roster. For athletes, the opportunity to reenter the recruitment stage could provide new opportunities, from a fresh start to a better system fit, or even a next step in one’s academic career as a graduate transfer.
“Sometimes we compare transfer portal recruiting to speed dating,” Brooks said. “Because you can get on the phone with a kid, and in a week you’re bringing them on campus. And then within a couple of days after that, they could be making a decision.”
Time is, as always, of the essence. But in today’s college athletics landscape, Brooks said, “you have to really do your homework.”
Between the weight of a scholarship spot and conversations related to revenue sharing and name, image and likeness (NIL), more factors come into play when determining how strong a fit a player may be.
In Brooks’ mind, transparency plays a pivotal role in this process.
“You have to be very honest with them,” Brooks said. “You have to be very honest with yourself. Because there is a need to get it done in a timely manner. There’s a want to get it done in a timely manner. But you can’t let that supersede making sure you get the right person.”
Brooks said last week that there was more work to be done on next season’s roster. The deadline has passed for players to enter the portal, but those already in the portal are still hunting for new homes. The Wildcats have 11 players rostered for 2025-26, and Brooks has four available scholarships should he choose to use them all.
How Kentucky navigates the transfer portal
Gone are the days when a coach would only speak to a prospective transfer and her family. While it’s not unusual for a new coach to touch base with a player’s previous coaching staff, the increase of “hands involved” throughout the process has shifted the procedure.
Brooks noted the importance of sifting through all the information presented, and said “some of it’s truth, some of it’s false, and you’ve got to try to figure out what’s best.”
“You have one side,” Brooks explained, “where somebody might have had experience with that player, coaching them or whatever, and you can get certain type of information. And then you have agents who are really trying to push a player, and so you have to really just try to find a common ground so you can get information. And then you have to decide after that.”
Brooks described the process as “more difficult than you’d think,” because you’re up against the clock to try to find the best fit before another program inks the signature. Brooks is protective of his team’s culture, and has learned over the years to prioritize that cultural “fit” over star power or statistics.
So, despite the sense of urgency that lurks during portal season, “you have to make sure you don’t let emotions get involved with your decision making.”
“You don’t want to make a mistake,” Brooks said. “And bring somebody in who doesn’t fit what you want from either side, basketball or the cultural side. Because then they could cause some trouble. So it is an art to it.”
Getting roster additions right demands a keen eye, a strong work ethic and a reliance on one’s coaching staff. Brooks described his staff — headlined by associate head coach Lindsey Hicks, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Radvile Autukaite, assistant coach Josh Petersen and assistant coach and director of recruiting operations Ciara Gregory — as doing “a really good job of vetting the situation.”
“Between all of us,” Brooks said. “Someone knows someone that knows someone that might know a lot about that situation. And then they hover in (the women’s basketball offices) a lot. I can hear ‘em sometimes, sometimes I don’t know where they are. They’re all congregating in one office, and they’re sharing information, and they’re figuring it all out. There is a method to our madness because we understand the importance of culture.”
Nobody pushing ‘their agenda’ on UK coaching staff
Brooks recalled a joke Petersen made about the success of this year’s roster, which posted 23 wins and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, about how “sometimes I don’t feel like I’m working because we’re not putting out so many fires outside of basketball.”
In Brooks’ eyes, the program’s ability to zero in on basketball, in lieu of any potential problems, better positioned the group to overcome its faults — “But we overcame them because we were willing to work well together.”
That sentiment trickles from top to bottom and, regardless of which assistant finds a potential transfer target, everybody’s on the same page.
“They’re not territorial,” Brooks said. “If Rad has discovered a player, if Lindsey’s player that she discovered is more beneficial to our program, then we all go with that person. I’ve been involved with staffs who, people will push their agenda, the kid that they want the most, just because it makes it look like they’re doing a good job. And it could be detrimental to the team. And they do a really good job of, ‘we can all get on board and figure out who’s the best for our situation.’”
The Wildcats’ 2025-26 roster boasts three transfers — All-ACC point guard Tonie Morgan (Georgia Tech), All-Conference USA Defensive Team selection Josie Gilvin (Western Kentucky) and All-C-USA honoree Asia Boone (Liberty). Brooks told the Herald-Leader that he’d like to sign “one or two” additional players before the roster is finalized.
