Kentucky women’s basketball needed a ‘home run hire.’ Kenny Brooks is every bit that.

In seeking the next women’s basketball coach at the University of Kentucky, many wanted to see Mitch Barnhart take a “big swing.”

Well, the UK athletics director appears to have swung from his heels — and launched the ball into the stratosphere.

Kentucky’s announced hiring of now former Virginia Tech head man Kenny Brooks as Kyra Elzy’s replacement as UK women’s basketball coach looks like the epitome of a “home run hire.”

When the Kentucky women tip off the 2024-25 season in the new and improved Memorial Coliseum, the Wildcats will be coached by the head man of the 2023-24 ACC regular season champions and the coach of a 2022-23 Final Four team.

“Kenny has a strong history of player development and championship performance at James Madison and Virginia Tech,” Barnhart said in a UK news release announcing the hire. “When you combine his coaching excellence with his vision for this program and his passion to take us there, he is ideally suited to be head coach of the Wildcats.”

The hiring of Brooks — “The Athletic” reported that UK would make its new head man the third-highest-paid women’s hoops coach in the SEC — coupled with the $80 million-plus renovation of Memorial Coliseum represents UK leaning into the idea it should be a significant player in both the growing national prominence of women’s college basketball and in an increasingly cutthroat SEC.

To a league that already boasts national championship coaches in South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and LSU’s Kim Mulkey and which will soon be welcoming back a two-time Final Four coach in Texas’ Vic Schafer (the former Mississippi State head man), Kentucky has now landed a Final Four coach of its own.

In the UK news release, Brooks said, “I am thrilled to be named the head coach of the Kentucky women’s basketball program. From the Big Blue Nation and the stunning landscape of the Bluegrass State to the UK Athletics brand and getting to compete in the Southeastern Conference, my family and I are excited about this new chapter in our lives. ... I don’t plan on wasting any time building a positive atmosphere, winning environment and a persistent program that Big Blue Nation can be proud of.”

Brooks, 55, cut his head coaching teeth at his college alma mater, James Madison University. In 14 seasons (2002 through 2016) at JMU, Brooks took the Dukes to the NCAA Tournament six times. In eight years (2016 through 2024) at Virginia Tech, Brooks led the Hokies to seven 20-win seasons, four NCAA tourney trips, a conference tournament title (2022-23), a conference regular season championship (this year) — and to last year’s Final Four.

The two cornerstone players, center Elizabeth Kitley and point guard Georgia Amoore, in Brooks’ elevation of Virginia Tech women’s hoops from ACC also ran to power suggest the coach should be able to address two problems that have long haunted UK women’s basketball.

Under Brooks, the 6-foot-6 Kitley developed into the three-time ACC Player of the Year.

Because the state of Kentucky has not historically produced a lot of high-level post players and because former UK head man Matthew Mitchell quite commendably elevated the Wildcats program using a guard-oriented, full-court pressing style, Kentucky has had a difficult time recruiting size.

Using Kitley’s track record of success under his coaching, Brooks should be able to change that.

A dynamic point guard, Amoore came to Virginia Tech from Ballart, Victoria, Australia. This past season at Virginia Tech, Brooks also had a second starter, Sweden’s Matilda Ekh, drawn from the international ranks. In his 2024 Hokies recruiting class, Brooks had also signed 6-7 Portuguese center, Clara Silver.

For whatever reason, Kentucky has not been able to meaningfully pierce the international talent market in its recruiting. Based on his success at Virginia Tech working in that realm, Brooks seems well suited to alter that reality.

One other thing the Big Blue Nation should especially like about Brooks: Over the past two seasons, he’s been beating the teams Kentucky fans most want to beat. In 2022-23 and 2023-24 combined, Brooks has gone 2-0 vs. Tennessee and 3-0 against Louisville.

The first quest for Brooks in Lexington will be replenishing a roster that is presently down to five returning players and two recruits — one signed, one committed. Coming off back-to-back seasons of 12-19 and 12-20, UK needs a talent infusion.

With Brooks on board, will any of the five players who ended last season on the UK roster but have since placed their names in the transfer portal decide to return? Could any players or recruits from Virginia Tech follow their coach to Kentucky?

Stay tuned.

Stipulating there are no certainties in coaching searches, Barnhart and Kentucky landing a proven head coach of Brooks’ level of accomplishment sure looks like a major boon to a UK women’s basketball program that just ended its 50th season yet is still seeking its first Final Four trip.

As simple as this can be stated, Kentucky landing Kenny Brooks is a big freakin’ deal.

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