CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia women’s basketball head coach Aaron Roussell has named Kelly Rae Finley as associate head coach, announced Monday (April 20).
“Kelly is someone I’ve admired for a long time. She has exceptional integrity and is genuine in how she goes about her relationships,” Roussell said. “She’s a superstar recruiter with a relentless work ethic. Our relationship predates either one of us being in this business and she’s always been someone I’ve leaned on for guidance.”
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 where she played an integral role in signing the Ivy League’s first-ever Women’s McDonald’s All-American and the league’s second Olympian. Working with Harvard’s post players, Finley led 12 All-Ivy selections, five of whom continued their careers professionally.
Finley graduated from Colorado State University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies. She was a two-year letterwinner for the Rams and was a Mountain West Conference Scholar-Athlete Award winner in 2008. She began her collegiate career at Northwestern University where she lettered in 2004-05.
Finley is a native of Edina, Minnesota. She attended The Breck School, where she first crossed paths with Virginia head women’s basketball coach Aaron Roussell, then the head coach of the JV boys’ team and an assistant with the varsity program.