Kentucky WBB loses Director of Player Development to Florida

The hits keep coming for Kyra Elzy and the Kentucky women’s basketball program. Just days after losing prized redshirt freshman Tionna Herron — a former four-star, top-75 overall recruit — along with previous departures in Jada Walker and Kennedy Cambridge, a crucial staff member has now also left.

Kentucky director of player development Daniel Boice, who had been with the Wildcats for seven years, has taken the same position at the University of Florida, Gators head coach Kelly Rae Finley announced Friday.

Welcome to Gainesville, @DanielBoice!

🔗 https://t.co/kCgRjm54rt#GoGators pic.twitter.com/XNI8elRe0n

— Gators Women’s Basketball (@GatorsWBK) May 12, 2023

“We are excited to welcome Dan, his wife Ali, and their daughter McKale to Gainesville!” Finley said. “Dan brings a wealth of knowledge to our staff and will lead our efforts with game analytics and player development.”

Boice joined the Kentucky program in 2016 after previously serving as the coaching video coordinator at Arizona for two seasons. In his first three years with the Wildcats, he assisted the coaching staff in opponent scouting reports and coordinating all aspects of film exchange and video editing for opponents and team edits. He was promoted to director of player development before the 2019-20 season, but took a brief pause in that role, spending the 2020-21 season as an interim assistant coach. He then returned to his original role from 2021-23 before making the move to Gainesville. 

“He is a selfless, hard worker who will elevate the Gators with his knowledge and passion for the game as a whole,” Finley added.

The Wildcats have just 11 players on the roster going into the 2023-24 season after adding high school signee Janae Walker out of Georgia last week. This comes after Kentucky finished with a 12-19 overall record this past season, highlighted by an abysmal 2-14 finish in conference play. UK was knocked out of the SEC Tournament quarterfinals and missed the NCAA Tournament entirely.

Elzy recently added Jerod McCullen to her staff as the program’s new women’s basketball coaching video coordinator, coming from Central Michigan as a director of operations for its women’s program.

“We are looking forward to Jerod arriving in Lexington,” Elzy said. “He came highly recommended, and he proved why in all of our conversations. Jerod has grown up around the game and has had valuable experience at Central Michigan. I’m confident that he will make a positive impact in numerous areas of our program.”

He previously spent two seasons as director of operations at Central Michigan where he administered travel arrangements, handled all video responsibilities, assisted in equipment duties, oversaw managers and practice players, and facilitated camps and other team events. He also aided coaches and staff members in the day-to-day operations of the program. McCullen replaced alumna standout and All-SEC selection DeNesha Stallworth, who spent three seasons as UK’s coaching video coordinator (2020-22) before recently being named assistant coach at Santa Barbara.

Now, another hole to fill while also attempting to field a competitive roster.