In an announcement made Wednesday, Feb. 15, Virginia Tech Head Coach Kenny Brooks has been added to the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the year Late Season Watch List.
Brooks has guided the Hokies to a 20-4 record this season, and the Hokies are currently ranked 11th in the AP Poll. The VT women are currently in a tie for third in the ACC with a 10-4 record, occupying the third seed in the ACC Tournament if the season were to end today.
In last week’s early reveal, the NCAA Selection Committee dubbed the Hokies a four seed, meaning they would host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004.
In his seventh season at VT, Brooks has amassed a record of 144-73 (58-56 in ACC play) and has secured 20 or more wins in each season that was not shortened due to COVID-19.
Under his leadership, the Hokies have made two consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, set multiple records when it comes to ACC victories, and have had several athletes earn conference and national honors.
Brooks is 88-25 at home on Carilion Clinic Court losing just once in non-conference play and owning a 24-3 record over the last two seasons.
Prior to Brooks’s tenure in Blacksburg, the most wins that the program had earned in ACC play was six. Coach Brooks’s Hokies have won six or more six times including 10 or more wins in three of the last four seasons, including this one with four more games remaining.
Under Brooks’s tutelage two athletes have been recognized on the ACC’s All-Defensive Team, three have been on the ACC’s All-Freshman Team, four have been named All-ACC, and he has coached the Sixth Player of the Year, the Freshman of the Year, and the Player of the Year.
In addition, Aisha Sheppard and Elizabeth Kitley have each earned AP All-America recognition with Kitley becoming the first VT athlete to be named to an All-America team (Third Team in 2022).
Sheppard is the program’s all-time leading scorer as well as the conference’s leader in career 3-pt. field goals. She was selected 23rd in the WNBA Draft (the highest selection for a Hokie) to the Las Vegas Aces who won the WNBA Championship in her first season in pro basketball.
– Submitted by VT Athletics
