- Phone: 352-375-4683, ext. 5594
Email: kellyfi@gators.ufl.edu
Twitter: @kraefin
QUICK HITS:
- Was elevated to Head Coach in Feb. 2022
- Entering her fifth season as the Gators' head coach
- Has led UF to a postseason appearance every year under her leadership
- Named the Spalding Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year by the WBCA in 2022
- Honored as USA Today Sports Network 2022 SEC Coach of the Year
- Semifinalist for the 2022 Naismith Coach of the Year award
- Signed the 10th-ranked recruiting class in the nation for 2024
- Added WNBA All-Star and two-time SEC Player of the Year, Rhyne Howard to the coaching staff in 2023
- Landed the nation's 7th-ranked recruit for the class of 2024, marking the highest-ranked recruit in program history
- Developed both Kiki Smith and Leilani Correa to be drafted into the WNBA
- Currently holds a winning record of 75-60 (56%) at Florida
- Finley's all-time SEC record stands at 27-40 entering the 2025-26 season
- Under her guidance, Leilani Correa was named the SEC Sixth Woman of the Year in 2024
- Signed three McDonald's All-American players in two years
- Took the Gators to their first WBIT semifinals in program history in 2025
Coach Finley will enter her fifth season as Head Coach of the Florida Gators in 2025-26. In Finley's most recent season, she led UF to the 2025 WBIT semifinals, marking the program's first postseason semifinals appearance since 2013. With the postseason run into the WBIT, Coach Finley has guided Florida to a postseason appearance for five consecutive seasons.
In 2024, Finley led the women’s basketball program to an impressive postseason run at the SEC Tournament. The Gators advanced to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament with back-to-back wins in rounds one and two. Following the SEC Tournament, the Gators earned the No. 3 seed in the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament.
Head Coach Finley once again exercised her elite recruiting abilities during the 2023-24 season, adding two McDonald's All-Americans, Me’Arah O’Neal, and Liv McGill to the 2024-25 roster. Kylee Kitts was also a highly sought-after recruit and committed to the Gators as the 25th-ranked recruit in the 2025 class but will reclassify to join the Gators in the 2024-25 season. Finley's 2024 recruiting class was ranked in the top 10 according to ESPN and with the signing of No. 7 Liv McGill, Finley recruited the highest-ranked recruit in program history.
Finley’s first year as Head Coach was highlighted by her being named the Spalding Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year by the WBCA. Finley was also honored as USA Today Sports Network SEC Coach of the Year and a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award. These recognitions came after she led the Gators to a historic 2021-22 campaign where the team went 21-11, the first 20-win season since 2015-16, while also earning an at-large bid for the first time in over five years. Under her leadership in the 2021-22 season, the Gators defeated five ranked opponents for the first time since the 2005-06 season, including five nationally ranked opponents in the SEC for the first time since 2004. Finley also played a role in the development of All-SEC guard and Connecticut Sun draftee, Kiara Smith. This past spring, Leilani Correa was named the SEC Sixth Woman of the Year and was drafted to the Indiana Fever.
2017 was Kelly Rae’s first year at Florida where she served as Assistant Coach for two seasons (2017-2019) before being promoted to Associate Head Coach in May of 2019, and ultimately filling the role as Interim Head Coach (July 2021). During this time Finley specialized in the development of guard players and significantly contributed to recruiting efforts. In 2020-21, Finley helped the Gators secure their first postseason victory since 2014 as Florida defeated Charlotte in the opening round of the WNIT. Under Finley’s watch, several of Florida’s guards made tremendous strides including point guard Kiki Smith, who became the first player in program history to lead her team in scoring (490), rebounding (173), and assists (95) in a single season. Finley’s efforts helped the Gators improve their season averages in scoring, scoring margin, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, free throw percentage, rebounds, and turnovers per game when comparing 2020-21 to 2019-20.
Prior to coming to Gainesville, Coach Finley served as the assistant coach at Arizona, specializing in recruitment where she signed the 34th-ranked recruiting class in the country that included the Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year (2017), the Washington 4A State Player of the Year (2017) and the Illinois Courier News Player of the year (2017). Finley also spent four years at the University of Colorado, signing the top 25 recruiting class helping her rank as high as No. 11 in the Associated Press poll and No. 14 in the USA Today Sports Coaches poll (2013-2014).
Finley’s first stop in collegiate basketball was at Harvard where she spent three years as an assistant coach. At Harvard, Finley heavily impacted the recruiting scene and played a major role in signing the Ivy League's first-ever Women's McDonald’s All-American. Coach Finley also aided in the recruitment of the Ivy League's second Olympian. At Harvard, Coach Kelly was also trusted in the role of director of post-player development. In that role, she led 12 All-Ivy selections, five of whom continued their careers in professional basketball. Her guidance at Harvard resulted in three postseason appearances (WNIT, 2010, 2011, 2012) and hyperactive fundraising efforts for locker room and equipment upgrades.
Personally, Finley graduated from Colorado State University in 2008 with her bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies. She was a two-year letter winner for the Rams and was a Mountain West Conference Scholar-Athlete Award winner in 2008. Finley began her collegiate career at Northwestern University where she lettered in 2004-05.
Quoting Kelly Rae Finley:
"I am committed to our student-athletes and will continue to do all I can to help them become the best they can be on and off the court. I'm grateful to be entrusted with this role and will bring my best every day to help us be successful together as a team."
“The University of Florida is an elite athletic and academic institution where we have the opportunity to compete for and win championships. That’s everything you want when you look for a program to build and be a part of.”
