Kyra Elzy - Women's Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks

Kyra Elzy

TITLE Assistant Coach

Bio

Kyra Elzy is in her fourth season as an assistant coach at KU. In addition to her recruiting duties, Elzy works primarily with the Jayhawk wing players.

Elzy, who was instrumental in KU landing its first top 20 signing class under Bonnie Henrickson in 2007, had her work cut out for her during the 2006-07 season as her Jayhawk players consisted of one sophomore and two freshmen. She did not let their youth slow them down and entering the 2007-08 season those freshmen are now sophomores and are two of the most dominant sophomores in the Big 12 Conference in Danielle McCray and Sade Morris. Both players were instrumental in guiding KU to a 3-1 mark on their trip to Australia, with McCray turning in over 20 points per outing on the tour.

Prior to serving two seasons as assistant coach at Western Kentucky, Elzy spent one year as administrative assistant under Henrickson at Virginia Tech. While with the Hokies, Elzy was responsible for team travel, scheduling community service events, and working with the women’s basketball summer camps.

As an assistant coach at Western Kentucky, Elzy dealt with the coordination of recruiting and official visits for the Lady Toppers. On the floor, she worked closely with the guards and handled individual workouts. The Lady Toppers posted 20+ wins both of her seasons at WKU. In 2002-03, Western Kentucky won the Sun Belt Conference championship and played in the NCAA Tournament. Elzy helped coach Sun Belt Player of the Year Shala Reese and Newcomer of the Year Tiffany Porter-Talbert. In the 2003-04, Western Kentucky was the Sun Belt runner-up and advanced to the quarterfinals of the WNIT.

As a player at Tennessee, Elzy was a member of two national championship teams (1997 & 1998) and a national runner-up squad (2000). She spent five seasons in a Lady Vol uniform, missing the 1998-99 season with an injury. During her time in Knoxville, she played in 126 games and earned the Holly Warlick Defensive Player of the Year award in 1997 and the Unsung Hero Award in 1998.

Elzy became just the fifth freshman in Tennessee history to start her first game as a Lady Vol when she started at guard in the 1996-97 season opener against Austin Peay. Elzy also earned another distinction during her playing career, becoming the first Tennessee player to earn her master’s degree while still playing. A standout in the classroom as well as on the court, Elzy made Tennessee’s Dean’s List each semester while in graduate school, and was also named to the 2000 and 2001 Southeastern Conference All-Academic teams. She was a three-time Lady Vol Academic Achiever, a distinction given to student-athletes that maintain a 3.0 grade point average for the year.

While at UT, Elzy was a member of the 1997 USA Junior World Championship team that went 6-1 in Brazil. Among Elzy’s teammates who brought home the gold medal was former Kansas standout Lynn Pride.

A native of LaGrange, Ky., Elzy graduated from Oldham County High School in 1996. She guided OCHS to four district championships, two regional titles and a state semifinals appearance during her prep career. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in cultural studies in education with an emphasis in sports psychology from Tennessee.