Kentucky’s coaching staff for the 2026-27 season is now set, and the Wildcats added a familiar name from the college ranks to fill out the bench.
On Oct. 13, the program announced the hiring of Alfred Aboya as an assistant coach. Aboya is the second assistant Kentucky has brought in this offseason, joining Mo Williams, as the Wildcats move on from Alvin Brooks III and Jason Hart. Brooks spent the first two seasons of Mark Pope’s tenure at Kentucky before taking an assistant job at North Carolina State, while Hart is now the associate head coach at SMU.
Aboya arrives in Lexington after leading NBA Academy Africa as its head basketball coach. He also served as head coach of the Cameroon National Men’s Basketball Team.
His coaching path began at Mississippi State, where he worked as a graduate assistant. From there, he moved into the NBA G League and served as a player development director with the Iowa Wolves.
Before coaching, Aboya built his playing résumé at UCLA from 2006 to 2009. He appeared in 142 games and made 55 starts, and he was part of three straight Final Four teams with the Bruins. He also played professionally in France, Japan and the G League, among other stops.
Kentucky made another addition on Oct. 13, too.
John Pelphrey was named the Wildcats’ director of player development. Pelphrey, who played at Kentucky for five seasons from 1987-88 through 1991-92, had spent the previous seven seasons as head coach at Tennessee Tech.
Across 16 seasons as a college head coach, including time at South Alabama and Arkansas, Pelphrey has a 228-264 record, which works out to .463.
In Other News...
Kentuckys New SEC FPI Spot Says Plenty After The LSU Win
ESPNs latest Football Power Index update offered another snapshot of where Kentucky sits in the SEC after the Week 6 slate, and it adds some context to what the Wildcats just did against LSU. The model, which factors in recent results and projects the rest of the season, places Kentucky in the middle of a crowded conference picture alongside a cluster of teams trying to sort out their identities as the year moves deeper into October.
The broader SEC rankings also show how tight the race remains beneath the leagues heavyweights, with programs like Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Auburn, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Florida, Texas A&M and Missouri all carrying their own FPI numbers and projected paths. For Kentucky, the update matters because it reinforces that the LSU win was more than just a good night in Lexington, even if the real test is how the Wildcats build on it from here. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky's Surprising Rise Faces Its Biggest Test Yet At Oklahoma
Kentuckys unexpected surge has carried it into October with real momentum, and the Wildcats have earned every bit of it. Under first-year head coach Will Stein, Kentucky has gone from a team trying to find its footing to one sitting at 5-1 overall and 3-1 in SEC play after back-to-back overtime wins against South Carolina and LSU, results that have changed the tone around the program in a hurry.
Now comes a different kind of challenge. Kentucky heads to Oklahoma on October 17 for the first conference meeting between the schools since the Sooners joined the SEC in 2024, and the timing could hardly be tougher, with Oklahoma fresh off an upset of then-No. 1 Texas in the Red River Rivalry and sitting at 3-2. For Kentucky, this is the kind of road test that can tell you whether the rise is real or still just the latest surprise in a long SEC season. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Fans May Have Just Seen A Program-Changing Night
For one night at Kroger Field, Kentucky football looked and felt like a program that had rediscovered its edge. The Wildcats knocked off No. 10 LSU 35-34 in overtime in front of a sellout crowd, and the setting only added to the moment, with a throwback uniform and a new team walkout ritual helping turn the evening into something bigger than a single upset.
The finish matched the atmosphere, with Kenny Mincheys two-point conversion delivering the winning play and setting off a celebration that spilled onto the field. The SEC later fined Kentucky $500,000 for the storming, a costly reminder of how rare and emotional the win felt for a fan base that has spent plenty of seasons waiting for a night like this. [Read more 🡒]