In the time since his surprise exit last November as Kentucky women’s basketball coach, Matthew Mitchell has had ample time to review his successful 13-year tenure as UK head coach.
Mitchell (303-133 at Kentucky) has identified a constant from the best years of his run at Kentucky:
They came with Kyra Elzy on his coaching staff.
“We really built the (UK) program together,” Mitchell says. “I was so much better, at my professional best, when I was able to collaborate with her.”
It was during the first stint (2008-12) that Elzy spent on Mitchell’s coaching staff that the Kentucky women’s basketball program, mired in mediocrity for decades, was built into a consistent top-20 program.
After a mass player exodus following the 2015-16 season destabilized what Mitchell had built, it was Elzy’s subsequent return to Kentucky as an assistant that coincided with the Wildcats eventually returning to top-20 status.
That history is why, now that Elzy has moved into UK’s head coaching office, Mitchell has an appeal for Wildcats fans.
“If I had one request of people in the Big Blue Nation, that is to embrace and support and get behind Kyra the way they did while I was there,” Mitchell says.
For what this is worth, I thought Elzy took too much message board criticism this past winter after she was pressed into the Kentucky head coaching role by Mitchell’s abrupt departure.
It is true that UK (18-9, 9-6 SEC) finished fifth in the SEC after the league’s coaches had picked the Wildcats second in the preseason.
It is also true that Kentucky, seeded to reach the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, instead lost in the round of 32.
In losing four of its final seven games, it is inarguable that UK was not playing its best basketball when it mattered most.
Yet it is also true that, in Elzy’s first season as head coach, Kentucky beat more ranked opponents (the Cats went 5-6 vs. the AP Top 25) than it had since 2015-16.
UK’s No. 4 seed in the NCAA tourney was the Wildcats’ best since 2017.
So if what I would characterize as a mildly disappointing Kentucky season in 2020-21 left you believing the jury is still out on Elzy as a head coach, fair enough.
However, if you’ve already concluded Elzy cannot be a good head coach at Kentucky, you are failing to take into account some mitigating factors that hampered her first season as UK head coach — and you are way overreacting to one year.
Mitchell announced his departure on Nov. 12.
Kentucky opened its season Nov. 25.
That meant Elzy didn’t even have two full weeks to prepare for her first season as an SEC head coach.
As a result, she also barely had any time to transition her relationships with UK players from the role of “good cop” as an assistant to ultimate decision-maker as head coach.
Meanwhile, Kentucky had game-planned for its 2020-21 season with the expectation that transfer guards Robyn Benton (Auburn) and Jazmine Massengill (Tennessee) were going to sit out the year.
When the NCAA instead declared all transfers immediately eligible amid the coronavirus pandemic, Elzy suddenly found herself trying to juggle a 10-player rotation and figure out how to carve out meaningful playing time for all.
I asked Mitchell why he has confidence that Elzy — a former Oldham County High School star and Tennessee Lady Vols guard on two NCAA championship teams for Pat Summitt — has what it takes to succeed as UK head coach.
“She is extremely high character. A leader with great, great principles,” Mitchell says. “She has an extremely creative mind that allows her to get a set of facts and circumstances and figure out a way to succeed.
“Kyra is a tremendous connector with other people. I think that is so important to be able to get the best out of your players. And she is a student of the game, an outstanding tactician.”
The 2021-22 season is a crucial one for Kentucky women’s basketball. It will be the Cats’ final season with megastar Rhyne Howard, a senior-to-be, on their roster.
To ensure UK makes the most of its last go-round with two-time SEC Player of the Year Howard in blue and white, Elzy has added former Duke and Texas head coach Gail Goestenkors — a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame — to her staff.
Being able to call on the experience of a coach who directed four Duke teams to the Final Four should be a boon to Elzy.
For his part, Mitchell says his former assistant will prove up to the task of keeping Kentucky women’s basketball nationally relevant.
“It’s a tough, tough business, but Kyra is a tough, tough woman,” Mitchell says. “She has had so much success in her life, but she has also faced a lot challenges that she has been able to navigate, which has made her tough. That’s why I think our future as a program is extremely bright.”
