University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Tanya Warren named to the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year watch list
11/1/2023 10:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Women’s basketball head coach Tanya Warren was named to the watch list for the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award.
HOPEWELL, N.J. --- Entering her 17th season at the Panther helm, women's basketball head coach Tanya Warren was named to the 20-person watch list for the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday morning as announced by HerHoopStats.com. This is the inaugural season of the award.
Warren, the dean of MVC women's basketball coaches, is a three-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year along with being the longest-tenured active women's head coach in the Valley with 16 seasons of action. In those 16 seasons, she has recorded 306 total wins with 193 coming in conference play. Both of those marks are third all-time on conference charts. Under her direction, the Panthers have appeared in postseason play in 13 of the last 14 full seasons (excluding 2019-20 because of COVID restrictions) including back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in 2010 and 2011. She led the Panthers to all of the program's first nine postseason victories including a run to the 2021 Women's National Invitation Tournament semifinals. With Warren leading the way, the Panthers have also won two MVC tournament championships (2010, 2011).
It was another big season for UNI in 2022-23 putting up their first consecutive 20+ win seasons since 2015-2017. The Panthers again set a new points record, putting up 2,461 points with a high-powered offense. UNI picked up 23 wins in the 22-23 season and appeared in the WNIT for the third straight season. The Panthers were led by forward Grace Boffeli and point guard Maya McDermott who both made All-MVC teams including Boffeli being named to the MVC All-Tournament team after making it to the semifinal round of Hoops in the Heartland. UNI ended their season in the second round of the WNIT in a road loss to Nebraska.
ABOUT THE AWARD
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.
In January, the 10-person midseason watch list will be announced. 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 29th 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 21 of Harvard's 1,000-point scorers in program 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, Facebook, Instagram).
