The task for UK and Mitch Barnhart in women’s basketball coaching search: Think big
In seeking a replacement for Kyra Elzy as Kentucky’s women’s basketball coach, Mitch Barnhart and Co. should have one goal: Hire a coach who can make the program a consistent contender for SEC titles and deep NCAA Tournament runs.
That might sound overly ambitious for a Kentucky program which, in its first 50 years, has won one SEC regular-season title, two SEC Tournament championships and never made it to the NCAA Tournament Final Four.
Yet an elite level of success should not be beyond what UK should aspire to achieve in women’s basketball.
For decades, coaches in the women’s college basketball industry have referred to UK as one of the sport’s “sleeping giants.” For various reasons, Kentucky has never been able to fully tap into its program’s potential and awaken that giant.
This coaching search is another chance to make Kentucky women’s basketball into something special.
Elzy was thrust into the UK head coaching position four years ago after the unexpected departure of Matthew Mitchell. In Elzy’s four seasons, Kentucky went 61-60 overall and 23-40 in regular-season SEC games.
That performance was a far cry from where Mitchell had the UK program. Under Mitchell, the Wildcats went 303-133 from 2007 through 2020 and reached the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight three times and the Sweet 16 five times.
What Elzy did do was preside over a 10-game winning streak to end the 2021-22 season that saw Kentucky play better than it had in years.
That stretch ended with UK defeating Mississippi State, Kim Mulkey and LSU, traditional SEC women’s hoops kingpin Tennessee, and Dawn Staley and eventual 2022 NCAA champion South Carolina over four straight games to win the 2022 SEC Tournament.
That was a transcendent moment in UK sports history. Alas, a rash of transfers by key players off that SEC Tournament-winning team drained the positive momentum from that title run and set up Elzy for two subsequent seasons of struggle.
Over the past two seasons, Kentucky has gone a combined 24-39 overall and 6-26 in the conference.
As concerning as the on-court performance has been, recruiting has been an even bigger issue. The program has not signed even one player ranked in ESPN’s HoopGurlz Top 100 in either the classes of 2023 or 2024.
With Kentucky set to debut a “new and improved” Memorial Coliseum in 2024-25 after spending in excess of $80 million on a renovation, the struggles of recent seasons all but dictated UK make a coaching change to gin up enthusiasm for the initial season in the revamped arena.
So what direction should Kentucky go?
Might there be an established head coach in, say, the ACC, the Big 12 or what’s left of the Pac-12, who would be receptive to a job offer from a university in one of the emerging “Power Two” conferences (the SEC and Big Ten)?
If Barnhart envisions an up-and-comer, Marshall’s Kim Caldwell, Fairfield’s Carly Thibault-DuDonis, UNLV’s Lindy La Rocque, Grand Canyon’s Molly Miller and Jackson State’s Tomekia Reed are among the top rising head coaches in NCAA Division I women’s hoops.
Would Kentucky consider Transylvania’s Juli Fulks? At Transy, Fulks has built a dynasty. The Pioneers are the defending NCAA Division III national champion and are two wins away from a repeat in 2024. Under Fulks, Transylvania has won 64 games in a row and 90 of its last 91.
However, Fulks has had other chances “to move up” but has had her reasons for preferring to coach in NCAA Division III.
If she and UK had mutual interest, the question would be recruiting and whether Fulks could successfully navigate a cutthroat world far removed from DIII talent acquisition.
A Matthew Mitchell restoration would likely have appeal for some UK backers. If Mitchell is ready to return to coaching, I think it would probably be better for him and for Kentucky to each make a fresh start.
Still, Mitchell is responsible for nine of Kentucky’s 17 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, five of the school’s six Sweet 16 trips and three of UK’s four visits to the Elite Eight.
What should be clear, for Barnhart and Kentucky, is that the task is to identify a coach who can mobilize the UK women’s basketball program into a vehicle to do big things.
This story was originally published March 11, 2024 at 1:01 PM.
