HOPEWELL, N.J. – For the third-straight year, Belmont University women's basketball leader Bart Brooks has been named to the preseason watch list for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats.   Murray State head coach Rechelle Turner also represents the Missouri Valley Conference on the prestigious list.

Brooks and Turner are two of 20 mid-major coaches selected to the 2026 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Preseason Watch List.
 


In his first eight seasons as head coach of the Bruins, coach Brooks has compiled a remarkable 198-68 record. His 74.4 winning percentage ranks among the top 20 of active head coaches in Division I women's basketball. Furthermore, no other current Division I head coach with eight seasons or fewer under their belt has won more games than coach Brooks.

Turner enters her ninth season at the helm of the Murray State women's basketball team in 2025-26.  She led Murray State women's basketball to a Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championship in 2025 and the first NCAA Tournament appearance by the program since 2008.  Murray State set the program record for wins against UIC on January 12, 2025, and also established a program single-season wins record with 25 in 2025
 
Richmond head coach Aaron Roussell won last year's Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats.
 
The Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats is in its third year of existence.

 

For the second time in four seasons, Belmont is the preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference. In their first season in the Valley in 2022-23, the Bruins captured a regular season championship. Belmont has reached the MVC Tournament championship game two of the last three years.
 
Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award Eligibility and 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 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 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, Massachusetts, 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 (X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram).