Kentucky's hiring of Kenny Brooks shows serious investment in women's basketball

The popularity of women’s basketball is reaching an all-time high. With star names in the college realm such as, but not limited to, Caitlin Clark (Iowa) and JuJu Watkins (Southern California), the women’s game now has multiple faces of the sport and is drawing more eyes than ever.

Viewership was up 37 percent this season, per SportsProMedia, and 2023-24 was the most watched stretch of women’s college basketball on ESPN since the 2008-09 season. Ratings in the WNBA are the highest they’ve been in decades, too.

With NIL now playing a factor, women’s basketball players are being featured more and more on national stages. There is a growing market for the sport and its players. If there was ever a time to fully invest in women’s hoops, it would be right now.

University of Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart decided to join the movement and go all in on women’s basketball, too. On Tuesday, Kentucky WBB hired Kenny Brooks as the program’s next head coach.

BROOKS IN THE BLUEGRASS!

Got our coach, #BBN. 😼👏 pic.twitter.com/wliM5nh2EE

— Kentucky Women’s Basketball (@KentuckyWBB) March 26, 2024

Brooks, 55, comes to Lexington with a terrific resume that includes head coaching stops at James Madison and then Virginia Tech — over 500 career wins, nine NCAA Tournament appearances (reaching the Final Four in 2023), several WNBA players (not counting future WNBA player Elizabeth Kitley, a three-time ACC Player of the Year winner), and 18 seasons with at least 20 wins.

After back-to-back losing seasons under former head coach Kyra Elzy, Barnhart and Kentucky decided it was time to move on and conduct a real, in-depth coaching search — the first one since 2007.

For those who don’t remember, Elzy was brought on as the coach at Kentucky less than two weeks before the start of the 2020-21 season after Matthew Mitchell stepped down from the position due to health reasons. It was an unfair position for most involved, but to Elzy’s credit, she still managed the program’s first SEC Tournament title in 40 years (2022).

Regardless, it was clear that Elzy’s time at Kentucky had come to an end after a 12-20 finish this past season. She finished with an overall record of 61-60 across four seasons. A fresh start was needed. Hiring Brooks is more than a fresh start though — it’s a strong statement that Kentucky expects to compete for SEC Championships and make deep runs in March.

This isn’t some minor investment from Barnhart; this is a massive vote for the budding popularity of women’s basketball.

Details of Brooks’ contract have not yet been made public, but according to KSR’s Matt Jones, Brooks is expected to be among the top 10 highest-paid coaches in the country. Additionally, according to The Athletic, Brooks’ deal with UK is believed to be five years in length. Another caveat from The Athletic indicates that Brooks is expected to be the third-highest-paid coach in the SEC.

According to Front Office Sports, LSU’s Kim Mulkey ($3.26 million) and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley ($3.1 million) are the two highest-paid coaches in the SEC per season. The third? Texas A&M’s Joni Taylor at $1.5 million per season. Going off those context clues, we can assume that Brooks’ contract with Kentucky will likely exceed $1.5 million per season, as well. If that were to be the case, Kentucky likely inked a long-term deal with Brooks worth at least $8 million over a five-season span.

That’s a significant commitment from a school that has never seen its women’s basketball team make a Final Four. But that’s why you swing for the fences and bring in a coach like Brooks — he can get you there. He’s won everywhere he’s been, recruits like hell, and will now have even more resources at his disposal than at Virginia Tech, which he built from the ground up.

Don’t forget, Brooks will also have an upgraded Memorial Coliseum (another serious investment from UK) to work out of starting with the 2024-25 season. He was set to bring in a top 10 recruiting class to Virginia Tech, which he’ll now likely work to flip to Lexington.

If Kentucky wants to fight with the big dogs of South Carolina, LSU, UConn, etc. in the world of women’s college hoops, it takes a commitment from those at the top. It doesn’t get much bigger than Barnhart hiring Kenny Brooks.