(WBK) Kelly Rae Finley: Time to Drop the "Interim"

1 She is winning. That is all some people care about.
2. She was the principle recruiter for UF for all these girls. They are her girls.
3. She really cares about them. ( See the interview after the LSU game) if you had a daughter you would want her to play for Kelly Rae.
4. Take the interim tag off Mr Stricklin. Do it now. Make us proud!

 

At 15-5 she already has as many wins as her predecessor's best season, with 9 games to go. If we only beat the unranked teams left on our schedule, she will finish with as many SEC wins as Butler's best season.

Take off the interim tag.

 

What a great story. Also goes to show what a coaching change CAN do. Not that success is a given of course but I think coaching in basketball is more significant than in football where it's more organizational ability amd leadership than Xs and Os. Larry Brown for example won at every stop and was almost always taking on reclamation projects. Granted he's a hall of fame coach but the point stands. His program turnarounds were often very quick and much of it was before the age of free agency amd transfers.

Lon Krueger is another one. I wish I could throw calipari in there but his success was almost always due to talent infusions at Umass,Memphis and Kentucky.

 

Anyone know where Kelly Rae is from? Where did she play college ball? Did she coach elsewhere before UF?

 

Kelly Rae Finley - Women's Basketball Coach - Florida Gators

I didn't see her playing history in there, but she played at Northwestern for a year then transferred to Colorado State and played two more years there.

 

She is from Minnesota.
She coached at Harvard for four years, one as a volunteer and three as asst coach and recruiting coordinator 2008-12
Then four years assistant coach at university of Colorado. Once again as recruiting coordinator 2012-2016. Signed a top 25 class in 2015.
Then one year at University of Arizona 2016-17, again recruiting coordinator. Signed #34 class that year.
Joined UF 2016. Promoted to associate Head Coach in 2019.
Kelly Rae Finley - Wikipedia

 

Can she coach the men's team too?..

 

Might be a good way for Scott to start putting some things in the rear view.
Drop the interim tag, move forward.

 

Women with a better record than the men. Not many would have predicted that. Kudos to her and the team. Maybe the women's team will finally be a player in the sec again and get some fan support. Been a long time.

 

9 SEC games to go..lets see what happens.

 

That's my thought. I think she has clearly coached herself into major contention. A lot of basketball left and the competition is much tougher in these last 9 games. I am optimistic but you never know. RPI projections would have us 2-7 over those games... and the other 2 (@Auburn which beat Tennessee this week and Arkansas which beat LSU handily) are by no means certain wins. If we name her interim now and close out 0-9 after it would really not look good IMO. Just think its wiser to wait and see for sure.

 

Too soon to remove the tag. Let's see how these next 9 games play out first.