Kelly Rae Finley

Biography

Kelly Rae Finley was named associate head coach for Virginia women’s basketball on April 20, 2026. Finley most recently served as the head coach at Florida from 2021-26, first on an interim basis before being named to the position full-time in February of 2022. She originally arrived in Gainesville in 2017 as an assistant coach and was promoted to associate head coach in 2019. Finley led Florida to an NCAA Tournament appearance in her first season as head coach and was named the Spalding Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year, while also earning semifinalist honors for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award. She posted a 93–75 record over five seasons with the Gators. A noted recruiter, Finley oversaw a number of highly-touted recruiting classes during her time in Gainesville. During the 2023-24 season, she added a pair of McDonald's All-Americans in Me’Arah O’Neal and Liv McGill to the 2024-25 roster. Her 2024 recruiting class was ranked in the top 10 according to ESPN and included No. 7 McGill — the highest-ranked recruit in program history. McGill would go on to score 697 points in 2025-26 to set the program single-season scoring record and was named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Prior to Florida, Finley served as an assistant coach at Arizona and spent four seasons at Colorado, where she helped secure a top-25 recruiting class. Finley’s first stop was at Harvard as an assistant coach from 2008-2012 wher