For the second-straight year, Murray State head women’s basketball coach Rechelle Turner has been named to the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award Preseason Watch List presented by Her Hoop Stats.
 
The 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Turner guided the Racers to back-to-back regular-season and tournament titles last season. The 2025-26 team became the second team in MVC history to surpass 30 wins in a season, finishing sixth in the country with a school-record 31 victories. Turner’s squad returned to the NCAA Tournament for the second-consecutive season, and just the third time in program history, in 2026. Under her direction, Halli Poock and Sharnecce Currie-Jelks were named the league’s Player and Newcomer of the Year, respectively.
 
Turner is joined by 19 other mid-major head coaches on the preseason watch list. The complete list in alphabetical order by school is below.
 
• 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.