Kelly Rae Finley, who's led the No. 23 Florida women's basketball team to its best season since 2016, was named head coach of the Gators on Monday after serving in that role on an interim basis since July.
Finley, whose Gators are 20-9 overall, received a five-year contract. She is one of 15 candidates on the Naismith Women's Coach of the Year watch list released earlier in February.
"I'm humbled to be given the opportunity to lead our women's basketball program and I believe that together we will be able to achieve great things," Finley said in a news release. "I'm forever grateful for our staff and student-athletes for their dedication to growing this program and I look forward to continuing on this journey."
Finley replaced Cameron Newbauer after he resigned in July. Newbauer cited "personal reasons" for his exit, but multiple former players later accused him of toxic and abusive behavior while in Gainesville.
Florida went five years without a winning season and was picked 11th in the 2021-22 SEC preseason poll, but Finley has guided it to one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the college landscape. The Gators got their 20th win of the season Feb. 17, the first time they've hit that mark since 2016, and earned their highest ranking in the Associated Press poll (No. 15) since 2008-09. They managed to do that in large part without Lavender Briggs, a 2021 All-SEC second-team pick who suffered a season-ending injury in early January and later transferred.
Along the way, Florida rose to national prominence by beating five ranked opponents for the first time since the 2005-06 campaign. The Gators earned the No. 5 seed in the upcoming SEC tournament, and ESPN's Charlie Creme projects them as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they're set to make their first appearance since 2016.
"Kelly Rae is such a talented young coach whose natural poise, intelligence and relational abilities have all been on display during this remarkable Gators Women's Basketball season," Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in the release. "I'm excited that she'll have the opportunity to build off of this year's success and that future Gators will be able to benefit from her leadership the way this team has."
South Carolina's Dawn Staley, Tennessee's Kellie Harper and LSU's Kim Mulkey are among the coaches who have credited Finley for transforming Florida into an SEC power this season. Earlier in February, Mulkey went as far to ask why she hadn't been promoted already.
Finley played at and graduated from Colorado State in 2008. Her previous coaching stops included Arizona (2016-17), Colorado (2012-16) and Harvard (2009-12).
She arrived at Florida in 2017 to work under Newbauer as both an assistant and later associate head coach. Several former Gators players told ESPN last year that they believe Finley didn't do enough to stop Newbauer's alleged abuse.
Others, including Briggs prior to her transfer and current top scorer Kiara Smith, have publicly defended Finley.
When asked by media prior to the season if she thought she'd enabled Newbauer, Finley responded: "I don't believe I would be here if that were the case."
Gators players hugged Finley when they were notified of her elevated job status Monday.
IT'S OFFICIAL!! @kraefin is the Head. Coach. #GoGators
— Gators Women's Basketball (@GatorsWBK) February 28, 2022
pic.twitter.com/Qjep0XPIQl
Several players also took to social media to applaud the move.
Smith wrote, "She earned this," while Nina Rickards tweeted, "You deserve it."