Kelly Rae Finley was named Adia Barnes’ assistant coach on April 20, 2016. Finley also served as Arizona’s recruiting coordinator.
During the 2016-17 season at Arizona, Finley helped the Wildcats reach the 14-victory mark for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Additionally, Arizona won five conference games, which is the most the Wildcats have won in the Pac-12 era.
As the recruiting coordinator, she helped head coach Adia Barnes bring in five recruits for the 2017 class. Those five include Kiana Chew, Sam Fatkin, Marlee Kyles, Sam Thomas and Mallory Vaughn. Of those five signees, four of them were rated three stars by ESPN.com and Thomas was rated four stars.
Prior to bringing on five 2017 signees, Finley had to work quickly as she brought in guards Lucia Alonso and Bria Rice to the team in 2016. Alonso started 27 games at the point guard position and shot 43% from three, which is the second-highest single-season three-point percentage in school history.
Before making her way to Tucson, Finley was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Colorado from 2012 to 2016. Some of her duties included daily practice planning, film breakdown and scouting the opponents. She was the director of guard and forward development while specializing shot technique with all positions. The Buffs were ranked eighth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage. Finley coached seven players to All-Pac-12 honors while at Colorado, and four of them continued their careers in professional basketball.
Under her guidance, Colorado had back-to-back 20-win seasons in 2012 and 2013. The Buffs made a WNIT quarterfinals appearance in 2012 and earned an NCAA Tournament bid in 2013. In the 2013-14 season, Colorado was ranked as high as No. 11 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll.
While at Colorado, she organized and managed the recruiting process. She helped sign a top-25 recruiting class in 2015, which resulted in two freshmen receiving All-Pac-12 honors. Kennedy Leonard was a member of the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team and Alexis Robinson was earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 Freshman honors. She has established and maintained recruiting relationships in all 50 states as well as some international cities.
Prior to coaching at Colorado, Finley spent four years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Harvard University. She also served as the Women’s Basketball Admissions liaison by leading student-athletes and their families through financial aid, enrollment and the admissions process. During her time at Harvard, the student-athletes had a 100% graduation rate.
Finley organized and directed all domestic and international recruiting efforts. Two of her top recruits include Temitope Fagbenle and Shilpa Tummala.
Fagbenle was the Ivy League’s first ever McDonald’s All-American and was the second Ivy League player to be an Olympian as she played for England in the London Games in 2012. She was the 13th-ranked recruit by ESPN Hoopgurlz and was the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year in 2011. She would go on to be England’s U18 Player of the Year in 2010. Fagbenle was recently drafted by the Minnesota Lynx in the third round.
Tummala was the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year in 2012 and was ranked as the 27th-best shooting guard coming of high school by ESPN Hoopgurlz.
Harvard made three WNIT appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2012 during her time as an assistant coach. She was the director of post player development and coached 12 All-Ivy selections. Two of them continued their careers in professional basketball.
In the 2008-09 season, Finley was a volunteer assistant coach for Harvard. She assisted with recruiting, practice planning and office organization. She also coordinated then planning and execution of camps while organizing alumni events and community outreach.
A native of Minneapolis, Finley was a three-year team captain for The Breck School, helping her team to a Minnesota Class 2A State Championship in 2004, runner-up finish in 2003 and a third-place showing in 2002. Her AAU team, the Minnesota Metro Stars won the Nike Showcase championship in Chicago in 2003.
