Kelly Rae Finley has been named the 11th full-time women’s basketball coach in UF history, the school announced on Monday.
As the interim head coach in 2021-22, she orchestrated an incredible turnaround and led the program to one of its most successful regular seasons ever.
The Gators had failed to win more than 15 overall games or more than five SEC games over the previous five seasons. The 2021-22 Gators enter the postseason with a 20-9 record, including 10-6 in the conference. They’ll be the No. 5 seed in this week’s SEC Tournament and are considered a lock to make the NCAA Tournament.
“Kelly Rae is such a talented young coach whose natural poise, intelligence and relational abilities have all been on display during this remarkable Gators women’s basketball season,” athletics director Scott Stricklin said in a statement. “I’m excited that she’ll have the opportunity to build off of this year’s success and that future Gators will be able to benefit from her leadership the way this team has.”
IT’S OFFICIAL!! @kraefin is the Head. Coach. #GoGators
— Gators Women’s Basketball (@GatorsWBK) February 28, 2022
This marks just the fourth time in program history that the Gators have won at least 10 conference games in a season. They also defeated five ranked opponents for the first time since 2005-06. They made it to as high as No. 15 in the Associated Press poll, their highest ranking since 2008-09.
The Gators’ 84-59 bludgeoning of then-No. 7 Tennessee was the school’s largest margin of victory ever against a top-10 opponent.
Finley had been an assistant coach for the previous four seasons, including the last two as associate head coach.
“I’m humbled to be given the opportunity to lead our women’s basketball program, and I believe that together we will be able to achieve great things,” Finley said. “I’m forever grateful for our staff and student-athletes for their dedication to growing this program, and I look forward to continuing on this journey.”
What makes this season even more remarkable is the turmoil that the program was in when she took over.
Former head coach Cam Newbauer resigned in July, citing “personal reasons.” Over the coming months, several of his former players told the Independent Florida Alligator that Newbauer had physically and emotionally abused the team by doing things such as throwing basketballs at players and making assistant coaches take a couple of freshmen shopping because he didn’t like their clothes.
One of those former players, Cydnee Kinslow, told Sports Illustrated that she and a teammate both attempted suicide.
Finley has turned around the program both on and off the court since those days, and now she’ll get the chance to take the program to an even higher level in the years to come.
“Within this program, we strive to create a sustainable and competitive environment that encourages collaboration, fosters creativity and empowers our young women to achieve growth and success during their time at Florida and beyond,” Finley said.