Kentucky WBB adds Kylie Thompson as recruiting assistant

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Kyra Elzy continues to beef up her coaching staff ahead of her second season as the lead woman for Kentucky Women’s Basketball. Next up is Kylie Thompson, who UK Athletics announced as the new recruiting assistant on Monday afternoon.

Thompson, who has previously worked in supporting roles with both the Kentucky men’s basketball and football teams, will work out of the Kentucky women’s basketball office. According to UK Athletics, her responsibilities will include “planning and executing materials for all aspects of the recruiting process, organizing on-campus visits and assisting with the execution of the program’s camps.”

Welcome to the team Kylie! We're so ready for you to #CommitToIt with us.#BBN #ElzyEra pic.twitter.com/cie1MZdBFK
— Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) August 23, 2021

Kylie Thompson will join the women’s team with plenty of experience in Kentucky Athletics. For the last eight months, she was the major campus programming coordinator and has held marketing positions in the past. Thompson was a graduate assistant with the men’s basketball team in 2019 and a student assistant with the football team for one year as an undergraduate at UK.

Already this offseason, Coach Elzy has now added three new members to her staff, including Thompson. Hall of Famer Gail Goestenkors was brought on as an assistant coach in April while strength and conditioning coach Lee Taylor was hired in May. There have been other small moves made, as well, with interim assistant Daniel Boice moving into the Director of Player Development role. Former Kentucky player DeNesha Stallworth was also hired back in Oct. as the new video coordinator.

Elzy’s first season with Kentucky in 2020-21 got off to a hot start, but flamed out by the time the NCAA Tournament came around. She was thrust into a head coaching position with two only weeks notice and had to battle through COVID-19 protocols along the way. The fact that the ‘Cats did as well as they did was impressive by itself.

But changes still needed to be made. Elzy has spent the offseason crafting the support and coaching staff that she believes will make these changes a success.