Liz Kitley Returns Home!

Liz Kitley is returning home.  The Virginia Tech women’s basketball program announced that Elizabeth Kitley has joined Coach Megan Duffy’s staff as the Assistant to the Head Coach, External Operations.

Kitley will have a range of activities. She will work with Coach Megan Duffy and General Manager Stephen Fishler on such strategic initiatives as community outreach, fundraising, and NIL effort.  Kitley will also have a role on Women’s basketball home event broadcasts as well with the ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) programs.  She came across as a natural commentator during post-game interviews and last year's stint at the commentators table during her jersey retirement in Blacksburg.  She also showed great comfort on appearances on the ACC PM show with Mark Packer and Taylor Tannebaum. Kitley will also likely have a direct impact on student-athletes, whether in a development role on the court or mentoring players in developing their personal brands in the current NIL landscape.

Megan Duffy issued this statement in the Virginia Tech press release, "We are thrilled to welcome Virginia Tech legend Liz Kitley to our staff. Liz is one of the most recognizable faces in the region. While we are so proud of illustrious playing career, we now get to feel her presence in our community outreach, donor, and NIL effort. She will serve as a tremendous role model for our student athletes on and off the court. We’re excited to have her back to help the Hokies. While she prepared for the next steps with professional basketball."

Elizabeth Kitley is one of Virginia Tech’s greatest women’s basketball players in the program’s history. She owns 13 program records, was a three-time ACC player of the year, an All-American, four-time All-ACC First Team selection, three-time ACC All-Defensive Team honoree, a 2024 finalist for both the Wade Trophy and Lisa Leslie Award. Kitley helped lead the Hokies to the 2022-23 NCAA semi-finals, its best ever showing, and was drafted by the WNBA Las Vegas Aces despite suffering a knee injury that ended her 2023-24 season.  The Virginia Tech press release and Duffy’s statement indicate that Elizabeth Kitley will also spend her time in Blacksburg preparing for her return to professional basketball.

It is worth noting that Kitley’s parents moved to Blacksburg, and her father Ralph Kitley is an assistant principal at Blacksburg Middle School, so the family has transplanted their roots to Blacksburg. While Kitley continues her professional career, this new role may be an indicator of a longer-term career path. 

How Did it Happen?

According to Coach Duffy at her press conference on October 29, 2025, she "kind of got wind that she (Kitley) was potentially not going to go overseas and play like a lot of pros end up doing in their off-season from the WNBA. We started talking about some potentially different opportunities here and what she would be interested in. The rumor mill around here is so crazy sometimes that I thought maybe she would be a doctor some day. She is like “Nah coach, I just want to see what the sports world is like a little bit” and that led to some different conversations about being on tv and radio and maybe doing your guys’ jobs someday."

Why is Her Role Important?

Beyond the press release, how will she help immediately?

Coach Duffy said that the fact that Kitley "is going to be presence here around our players, I am so big on making sure that our players are surrounded by the best people around, whether that is a coaching staff member, whether that is a general manager, our athletic trainer, our strength and conditioning coach. To put Liz in that mix, just to have her knowledge, just to ask someone how their day is, and have real life experiences with what she went through here good and bad..Obviously, there was a whole lot of good here but just to be that mentor in a pretty laid back atmosphere with the players is going to be awesome. When I ended up telling the girls just a few days ago, just the expression on their faces whether it was Amani Jenkins a freshman or someone like Carleigh, Mackey, Carys, and Samyha who played with her, it is a huge boost for the women’s program. The fact that we can steal her for a little bit here is amazing."

Kitley can help the current post players develop: she can support Coach Hoover by working with Kayla Peterson, Aniya Trent, and Amani Jenkins on  breaking down film, foot work, positioning, moves, receiving the ball, finishing, and dealing with physicality. I would expect her to work 1-on-1 with the post players.  

She will be a public relations asset to the program.  Fan engagement is crucial for women’s college basketball. Cassell Guard and Virginia Tech women’s basketball fans have set the standard as a fanbase, and the program has done an excellent job building connections with the community through clinics, book readings, and more. Kitley will assist building even stronger connections with the community.  Her presence will help boost ticket sales and program visibility, including the potential for greater sponsor engagement and support for the program.  More fans will attend games due to her name recognition. There will be more autograph lines at both games and fundraising events. Donors will love having her at fundraising events, which can produce revenue for the program.  

The hiring of Liz Kitley is not just about finding a way to bring Virginia Tech’s most recognizable female basketball player back to campus. Kitley’s new position is an important role in today’s evolving NIL landscape that is revolutionalizing women’s sports.  The new generation of women athletes is rapidly building significant NIL value through social media engagement. Her experience with her social media, her podcast, and brand development will help members of the program develop their own platforms. Helping develop NIL opportunities is huge. In a college arena with limited professional opportunities for women’s basketball players, earning money while in college empowers players financially as they can become major brand-builders gaining endorsement deals with significant value. 

Her Position - The Macro View

Where does Virginia Tech’s women’s basketball budget stand vis-a-vis its peers in the ACC?

How much of the revenue pie will women's college basketball get?

As part of the House vs. NCAA settlement in June 2025, schools will be allowed to share athletic department revenue with their varsity athletes starting in 2025.  Schools can make payments up to $20.5 million, with an annual cap increase to around $32 million over the next ten years.  The web site https://nil-ncaa.com/  compiled data from NCAA membership reporting of 20 Power Conference schools and presented estimated revenue sharing allocations per team for the 2025-26 year. According to their compiled data projection, football and men’s basketball account for over 90% of team specific revenues ,and athletes from these two sports will be the main beneficiaries. Women’s basketball would average 1.1% of the share of the revenue, or $16,708 per athlete.

Women’s Coaches Salaries - March 2025

To put Virginia Tech in perspective, here is a look at the top 25 coaches' salaries for the 2024-25 season per the Front  Office Sport. https://frontofficesports.com/who-is-the-highest-paid-womens-college-basketball-coach/

• Kenny Brooks made $890,000 base salary at Virginia Tech in the 2023–24 season, good for 22nd ranking among college coaching salaries per https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/womens-basketball/coach
• Virgina Tech's Megan Duffy made $524,123 while at Marquette in 2023-24, good for a 56th ranking.
• Note that Kara Lawson’s contract at Duke is not public, but she likely has at least a top 20 salary . FSU’s head coach Brook Wyckoff was projected to have a total base pay of $525,000 in 2024.

For comparison’s sake, Megan Duffy’s contract at Virginia Tech has her base salary as $500,000 per year with additional supplemental compensation at $275,000 in 2024-25, $300,000 in 2025-26, and increasing up to $500,000 in the last year of the contract. She also earns a $25,000 retention bonus each year. The total annual compensation was $800,000 in her first year and $825,000 this coming season. By the end of her contract in 2030, her total salary would be $1,025,000. Right now, it feels like the Hokies are trying to do more with less. 

Again, Why is This Important? 

Much of the discussion about the importance of the Board of Visitor’s decision to dramatically increase the revenue for the Virginia Tech sports program has focused on football. However, the same discussion will inevitably revolve around the women’s basketball program.  The growth of women’s basketball and the popularity and visibility of women’s basketball of Virginia Tech make it a staple of Virginia Tech culture. We know that Virginia Tech fans will support a winning program at Virginia Tech, but if the athletic department wants to keep Virginia Tech women’s basketball at a level in which it can compete for both the ACC and NCAA championships, it is imperative that coaching salaries and facilities reflect a commitment to winning.  Smart financial compensation that can attract and retain talented players is just as critical to competing at the national level.

At first glance, one might view Kitley’s addition to the Virginia Tech program as a nice, feel good story about welcoming home a star player to a ceremonial role. Why delve into larger issues? The actual activities associated with her position are critical in the evolution of women’s college basketball.  We can almost assume that institutional support for the women’s program is going to lag behind football and men’s basketball, and the women’s program will have to compete with multiple other sports for official budget revenues. So, the women’s program is going to have to generate a significant amount of revenue through its own efforts to sustain a winning program. Welcome to the job Liz Kitley!