Head Coach Profile

Head Coach 20 Seasons

Delaney-Smith was bestowed with the prestigious Carol Eckman Award at the WBCA convention, held at the 2000 Final Four in Philadelphia. The Carol Eckman Award is presented annually to an active WBCA coach who exemplifies Eckman's spirit, integrity and through sportsmanship, commitment to the student-athlete, honesty, ethical behavior, courage and dedication to purpose. The award is named in honor of the late Carol Eckman, the former West Chester State College coach who is considered the "Mother of the Women's Collegiate Basketball Championship."

Under Delaney-Smith's tutelage, Harvard has evolved into one of the Northeast's most successful programs. The Crimson turned in one of its finest seasons in 1997-98 with a record-setting 23-5 overall record and the first-ever NCAA Tournament victory for a Harvard and Ivy League women's basketball team with a 71-67 win over Stanford. The win Halted the Cardinal's 59-game home win streak, and the Crimson became the first 16-seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in the history of the men's or women's NCAA Basketball Tournament. Delaney-Smith's squad also captured its third straight outright Ivy League title-the first Ivy team to accomplish such a feat.
She has directed Harvard to all six of its Ivy titles-including its first in school history during the 1985-86 season. In 1996, Delaney-Smith guided the Crimson to its inaugural trip to the NCAA Tournament and has seen her team to that level twice since.

Delaney-Smith was named the 1996-97 Ivy League Coach of the Year after her squad recorded a perfect 14-0 Ivy mark and landed its second straight NCAA appearance. It was the first time in the league's history that a team has gone undefeated since the institution of double round-robin play in 1982-83.

Delaney-Smith came to Harvard in 1982 after compiling an incredible 204-31 record at Westwood (MA) High School, with an unparalleled six undefeated regular seasons and one Massachusetts state title, in addition to 96 straight wins in the regular season. While at Westwood, she coached seven Boston Globe All-Scholastic selections, as well as numerous other players who went on to play in college. She was inducted into the Westwood Hall of Fame in 1996.

Prior to her arrival at Harvard, she also served as the New England Junior Olympic Basketball coach from 1980 to 1982..
Delaney Smith has received her fair share of accolades throughout her coaching career, including Boston Herald-American Coach of the Year in 1978-79, and Boston Globe Coach of the Year in 1979-80. The National High School Coaches Association selected her as Coach of the Year in 1981, and she was the first woman named to the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1986. The Crimson mentor was also named to the New Agenda Northeast Hall of Fame in 1998. A 1971 graduate of Bridgewater (MA) State College, Delaney-Smith was inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame in October of 1999.

Delaney-Smith holds the distinction of being the first Massachusetts high school girls basketball player to score 1,000 points-all while playing for her mother, the late Peg Delaney, at Sacred Heart of Newton.

Delaney-Smith's 19-year coaching record at Harvard is 275-218, with a 167-91 record in the Ivy League. Her 275 wins are the most ever by a basketball coach - men's or women's - at Harvard. She gained her 200th overall win in 1996 versus Northeastern in a 74-67 home triumph and reached her 100th Ivy win in 1995 with an 81-71 victory over Princeton.

In 1997, she was chosen a Leading Woman by the Patriots' Trail Girl Scout Council, which recognizes women who have succeeded in their professional and public lives. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the organization. She was also named a 1997 Newton Tab Person of the Year. The Newton Tab is a weekly newspaper in Newton, MA, where Delaney-Smith has been a resident for 10 years.
In March of 2000, Delaney-Smith received the New England Women's Leadership Award for Sports - another testament of the lives that she has touched through her courage, talents, and accomplishments. The awards were presented by young girls of the Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester, who benefit from the leadership of the award winners.
She is a former chairperson for the Converse Coach of the Year Selection Committee, and was honored by Converse as the 1998 Coach of the Year in District I.

Among Delaney Smith's civic involvements is her association with the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life". During the summer Delaney-Smith runs a basketball clinic at Harvard, and is the owner of the Net Results Basketball Summer Camp.
Delaney-Smith resides with her husband, Francis, and their son, Jared, in Newton, MA.