Kenny Brooks, who guided Virginia Tech to the ACC regular season championship a year after winning the tournament title and reaching its first Final Four, will take over as Kentucky’s women’s basketball head coach, the school said Tuesday.
Brooks will follow Kyra Elzy at Kentucky. She was fired March 11 after consecutive losing seasons since winning the school’s first Southeastern Conference Tournament title since 1982.
“We are extremely excited to bring Kenny Brooks to the University of Kentucky,” athletic director Mitch Barnhart said. “Kenny has a strong history of player development and championship performance at James Madison and Virginia Tech. When you combine his coaching excellence with his vision for this program and his passion to take us there, he is ideally suited to be head coach of the Wildcats. We are eager to introduce Kenny, (wife) Chrissy and their family to the Big Blue Nation!”
“I am thrilled to be named the head coach of the Kentucky women’s basketball program,” Brooks said. “From the Big Blue Nation and the stunning landscape of the Bluegrass State to the UK Athletics brand and getting to compete in the Southeastern Conference, my family and I are excited about this new chapter in our lives. I want to thank Virginia Tech for the most joyful journey of my coaching career, and to the University of Kentucky and UK Athletics administration for this new opportunity. I don’t plan on wasting any time building a positive atmosphere, winning environment and a persistent program that Big Blue Nation can be proud of.”
Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock wished Brooks and his family well in a release Tuesday and called him “an incredible mentor” to the program and a terrific representative of the school.
The Waynesboro, Virginia, native went 180-82 with at least 20 wins in seven of his eight seasons in Blacksburg, leading the Hokies to their first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title last year before winning the 2024 regular season title. Virginia Tech won a school-record 31 games last season on the way to its Final Four appearance before falling to eventual national champion LSU.
The Hokies (25-7) were seeded fourth in their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament and reached the second round before falling 75-72 to No. 5 seed Baylor on Sunday.