LEXINGTON, Ky. — University of Kentucky women's basketball head coach Kyra Elzy has earned the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I NCAA Rookie Coach of the Year award. The honor comes after Elzy finished her first season with more wins than any other first-year coach in the nation.

The award is named in honor of the late Maggie Dixon, former Army head coach, who was named 2006 Patriot League Coach of the Year after leading Army to the conference title and its first-ever NCAA D-l tournament appearance. Dixon passed away on April 6, 2006, just a few weeks after the Black Knights' NCAA tournament appearance.

Elzy led the Wildcats to an 18-9 season overall and 9-6 mark in Southeastern Conference play. Kentucky ranked inside the top 20 of the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today/Coaches Top 25 for the entire season. The team earned a No. 4 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, UK's first top-four seed since 2017. Not only that, but Elzy took Kentucky to wins in both the SEC and NCAA Tournaments and became the first UK women's basketball head coach to lead her team to the NCAA Tournament during her first season at the helm.

UK defeated five ranked opponents during the season, its most since 2016. The Wildcats won against No. 13 Indiana, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 12 Mississippi State, No. 16 Tennessee, and No. 17 Georgia. The wins against Arkansas and Mississippi State are noticeable since they were the first time Kentucky has won two straight games against top-15 teams since 2013. Those wins earned another title for Elzy: espnW National Coach of the Week.

Elzy took over following the retirement in early November of Matthew Mitchell, the winningest head coach in program history. After his departure, Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart named Elzy as the interim head coach before removing the interim tag in December as Elzy signed a contract to stay the program's head coach until 2025-26.

Before becoming head coach, Elzy spent eight seasons as an assistant coach for Kentucky, including six years as associate head coach. During nine years with the Kentucky program, the Wildcats have been to the NCAA Tournament seven times, including two NCAA Elite Eights. UK also won the SEC Regular Season Championship in 2012, only its second in program history. Kentucky had a winning season in eight of those nine seasons, including six 20-win seasons and six 10+ wins in league play.

The Wildcats have won 188 games, including 87 league games and 28 vs. ranked teams under Elzy. She's coached three SEC Players of the Year (including Victoria Dunlap, A’dia Mathies, Rhyne Howard), three SEC Freshman of the Year (A’dia Mathies, Bria Goss, Rhyne Howard), one SEC Defensive Player of the Year (Victoria Dunlap), two SEC 6th Woman of the Year (Keyla Snowden, Chasity Patterson), two SEC Scholar-Athletes of the Year (Alyssa Rice and Maci Morris) and her players have earned 41 All-SEC honors overall.