HOPEWELL, N.J. (October 29, 2026) — Her Hoop Stats has announce the 20-person watch list for the 2027 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award, including George Mason women's basketball head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis. This is the fourth season of the award, named after the legendary former Harvard head coach. This year's watch list includes coaches from 12 conferences, including three from the Atlantic 10.

Blair-Lewis enters her sixth season as head coach of the George Mason women's basketball program and her 28th season overall in 2026–27. In five seasons in Fairfax, she has transformed the Patriots from a three-win team in 2020–21 into one of the Atlantic 10's premier programs. In 2025–26, Blair-Lewis led George Mason to its first-ever A-\10 regular-season championship, sharing the title with a 16–2 conference record, and guided the Patriots to their second consecutive 20-win season and a runner-up finish in the A10 Championship. George Mason recorded a program-best 16 conference victories, earned three wins over Top-50 NET opponents, secured four A10 postseason honorees and established a new program attendance record with 4,123 fans at EagleBank Arena. Blair-Lewis also earned her 400th career victory on Jan. 4, 2026. The 2025–26 campaign followed a historic 2024–25 season in which she led the Patriots to their first A10 Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance, a program-record 27 victories and VaSID Coach of the Year honors. She has been on the Mid-Major Coach of the Year Watch List for all four years of it's existence. 

 The complete list in alphabetical order by school is:

• Brady Sallee, Ball St.
• Ryun Williams, Colorado St.
• Megan Griffith, Columbia
• Carly Thibault-DuDonis, Fairfield
• Neil Harrow, Fordham
• Vanessa Blair-Lewis, George Mason
• Lisa Fortier, Gonzaga
• Carrie Moore, Harvard
• Sean O'Regan, James Madison
• Brooke Stoehr, Louisiana Tech
• Tricia Binford, Montana St.
• Rechelle Turner, Murray St.
• Amy Eagan, New Mexico
• Jory Collins, North Dakota St.
• Lindsay Edmonds, Rice
• Alisa Kresge, Richmond
• Stacie Terry-Hutson, San Diego St.
• Loree Payne, Santa Clara
• Aaron Johnston, South Dakota St.
• Kristy Curry, South Fla.

Award Eligibility & Schedule 

To be eligible for the award, coaches must compete in a conference 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. Coaches in the re-formed Pac-12 are eligible. Interim head coaches are eligible, though total games coached are 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 also be 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 33rd 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 coached nine Ivy League Player of the Year recipients, six Ivy League Rookie of the Year winners, and the first 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).