HOPEWELL, N.J. (January 24, 2024) —Fairfield women's basketball head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis has been named to the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award watch list presented by Her Hoop Stats. Her Hoop Stats announced the 10-person midseason watch list for this award in its inaugural season, named after the legendary former Harvard head coach. This year’s watch list includes coaches from eight conferences.
In just her second season at the helm, "Coach Carly" has guided the Stags to new heights by receiving votes in both national Top-25 Polls and a top-10 ranking in the latest College Insider Mid-Major poll. Fairfield's 15-1 overall record is the third-highest winning percentage in the country and their 13-game winning streak is the second longest in Division I, behind only top-ranked South Carolina.
Under Thibault-Dudonis' leadership, the Stags lead the MAAC in 13 different categories while placing in the top-25 in the country in seven.
In two years as the head coach of the Stags, Thibault-DuDonis has built a program around defensive intensity, which is shown by Fairfield's defensive pressure. The Stags rank near the top in the country in almost every defensive measure, including placing 20th in scoring defense allowing just 54.7 points per game. The Stags also limit their opponents to just a .332 field goal percentage, trailing only No. 1 South Carolina and No. 2 Kansas State.
The success on defense has transferred over to the offensive side of the ball, with the Stags averaging a conference-best 74.6 points per game, their highest total in nearly 30 years. The Stags have accomplished this through a selfless style of basketball, leading the MAAC and ranking in the top-35 in the country with 17.3 assists per game. Fairfield is also very accurate shooting the ball with a .465 field goal percentage, the 26th best mark in Division I. Finally, their 9.4 3-pointers per game is in the top-10 in the country.
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, Pac-12, and SEC. Interim head coaches are eligible, although total games coached will be taken into consideration. The 20-person preseason watch list was announced in November. The five finalists for the award will be announced in March, with the winner being named around the Final Four. Coaches will be assessed throughout 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 31st in Division I history, and ninth among coaches who spent their entire career with a single team. 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 eight 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
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