The Kentucky men’s basketball program has announced the hiring of Alfred Aboya as an assistant coach and John Pelphrey as the program’s Director of Player Development.
Aboya comes to Lexington after serving as head basketball coach at NBA Academy Africa and as the head coach of the Cameroon National Men’s Basketball Team. He has strong ties to players from Africa and is expected to play a major role in international recruiting for the Wildcats.
Aboya has coached Cameroon in all FIBA competitions since
becoming the head coach in 2022, including in the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where the team reached the semifinal stage.
At NBA Academy Africa, Aboya focused on identifying and developing emerging basketball talent across the continent, with an emphasis on on-court training and skill development.
Aboya began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State before becoming the player development director for the Iowa Wolves in the NBA G League.
Aboya played college basketball at UCLA from 2006-2009, where he appeared in 142 games, reached three consecutive Final Fours, and made the Pac-10 All-Defensive Team in his final season.
He also did this to Joakim Noah:
After college, Aboya embarked on a six-year professional playing career that included stops in France, Japan, Venezuela, Turkey, and the NBA G League. As a player, Aboya participated in FIBA AfroBasket, the African Games, and Olympic qualifying.
Originally from Yaoundé, Cameroon, Aboya earned his undergraduate degree in political science from UCLA and went on to earn a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Mississippi State.
Pelphrey, a member of the Unforgettables, ranks No. 32 on Kentucky’s all-time scoring list with 1,257 points. He also ranks seventh on the all-time steals list with 173 and No. 13 on the all-time assists list with 327.
Pelphrey was most recently the Tennessee Tech head coach for seven seasons before being let go this past offseason.
Before Tennessee Tech, Pelphrey got his start as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State under Eddie Sutton in 1994, then joined Billy Donovan’s staff at Marshall and later at Florida.
Pelphrey got his first head-coaching job at South Alabama, where he led the Jaguars for five seasons, including a Sun Belt tournament championship in 2006 and a Sun Belt regular-season title in 2007.
After his time at South Alabama, Pelphrey became head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. In his four seasons with the Razorbacks, Pelphrey went 69-59. He won 23 games during his first season in 2008, the most by a first-year head coach in program history.
After being fired following the 2010-11 season, Pelphrey returned to Florida for four seasons as Donovan’s lead assistant before taking an assistant position at Alabama for the 2016-17 season.
Welcome to Lexington!
