HOPEWELL, N.J. (October 29, 2025) — Head women's basketball coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis has been named to the 2026 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award Watch List, presented by Her Hoop Stats. This is Blair-Lewis' third selection to the watch list.
In 2024–25, Blair-Lewis led George Mason to its first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. The Patriots posted a program-record 27 wins, including a best-ever 11–1 start and their first back-to-back 20+ win seasons. The team also reached its highest-ever NET ranking at No. 40 (first achieved on Dec. 4, 2024) and hosted its highest attended women's basketball game on Jan. 2, 2025, with 3,354 fans at EagleBank Arena. That season, three players earned A-10 postseason honors, including Paula Suárez (Most Improved Player, Second Team), Zahirah Walton (First Team, All-Defensive Team), and Kennedy Harris (Second Team).
Award Eligibility & Schedule
To be eligible for the award, coaches must compete in one of the 26 conferences deemed to be "mid-major." The following conferences are considered high-major for the purposes of this award and thus ineligible: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, and SEC. Additionally, Oregon State and Washington State remain ineligible this season as membership in the Pac-12 Conference evolves. Interim head coaches are eligible, though total games coached were taken into consideration.
The 10-person midseason watch list will be announced in January. The five finalists for the award will be announced in March, with the winner being named around the Final Four. Coaches will be assessed across the entire season, including postseason play. Beyond on-court success, other factors such as recruiting, preseason expectations, injuries, and tactical coaching will alsobe weighed when assessing each candidate. Inclusion on previous watch lists is not a requirement to be considered for future watch lists.
About Kathy Delaney-Smith
Delaney-Smith's Harvard teams compiled a record of 630-434 (.592) in her 40-year career, including a 367-168 (.685) record in Ivy League play. Delaney-Smith's 630 wins rank 32nd in Division I history. Delaney-Smith led her teams to six NCAA Tournament appearances and nine WNIT appearances, plus three Ivy League titles before the NCAA Tournament awarded automatic bids to the Ivy League champion. She has coached nine Ivy League Player of the Year recipients, six Ivy League Rookie of the Year winners, and all 22 of Harvard's 1,000-point scorers in the program's NCAA Division I history. Delaney-Smith was inducted into the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1986, becoming the first woman to ever be inducted, with more than three decades of her career still ahead of her. She was also inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.
A native of Newton, Mass., Delaney-Smith is also among the most accomplished high school players and coaches in the state's history. She was the first woman in state history to score 1,000 points while at Sacred Heart High School. As a high school coach, Delaney-Smith coached Westwood High School to an overall record of 204-31 across 11 seasons, including a 96-game winning streak.
About Her Hoop Stats
Her Hoop Stats was founded in 2017 to unlock better insight about women's basketball at all levels. We began as a statistics site focused on providing consistent, reliable, and easy-to-access data about women's basketball for both mobile and desktop environments. Her Hoop Stats has expanded to become a leading independent voice in the women's game providing content through our newsletter, podcast network, YouTube channel, and social media accounts (Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram).
