Details released on Kenny Brooks' contract with Kentucky

Kentucky Women’s Basketball didn’t hesitate to dish out a major payday for newly hired head coach Kenny Brooks. On Thursday, KSR’s Zack Geoghegan reported Brooks will earn $7.7 million over five seasons, a $1.5 million per season average.

The massive contract immediately makes Brooks the seventh-highest-paid women’s basketball coach in the country and the third-highest-paid in the SEC, trailing only South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and LSU’s Kim Mulkey.

In Brooks’ previous contract with Virginia Tech, he earned just shy of $1.1 million annually. Brooks is thrilled to take the reigns in Lexington.

“I’m going to come in here and we’re going to work,” Brooks said during his introductory press conference on Thursday. “We’re going to put a product out there that you are going to be very, very proud of.

“I’m not just saying you’re going to be proud of them in [Memorial Coliseum], but if you see them at Target, you see them in Kroger — wherever you see them — you’re going to be able to approach them and you can be very, very proud that they represent the University of Kentucky.”

Kenny Brooks believes in the future of Kentucky

Brooks has spent the past eight seasons as the head coach at Virginia Tech. This past season, Brooks led the Hokies to a 25-8 overall record and a 14-4 mark in conference play, earning the program the ACC regular season title. Virginia Tech ultimately fell to No. 5 seed Baylor in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

In his eight years at the helm of the program, Brooks boosted the Hokies to a 180-82 overall record. Virginia Tech reached the NCAA Tournament in Brooks’ last four seasons with the program and the Hokies reached a Final Four in the 2022-23 campaign.

He believes he can help Kentucky reach similar heights.

“As I continued to research everything about Kentucky — I know that the academics here are wonderful,” Brooks said. “I know that the fan base is very passionate. I know that the resources will allow you to get to a level where you can compete with anyone.

“I know it’s in a rich history of the SEC, and the SEC’s leadership and where it’s going, you want to be aligned with that to try to create something very, very special. When I added all that up, what I came up with was it’s gonna be a sleeping giant and it just needs to be awakened.”