HOPEWELL, NJ – South Dakota State women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnson has been named to the watch list for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award by their Hoop Stats.

Johnston begins his 25th season leading the Jackrabbit program. The Jacks have a 27-6 record in the 2023-24 season and their fourth straight Summit League regular season title. SDSU returned to the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in program history with its 11th Summit League Tournament Championship.

To qualify for the award, coaches must compete in one of the 26 conferences considered “mid-major.” The following conferences are considered senior conferences for purposes of this award and are therefore ineligible: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and SEC.

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 named around the Final Four. Coaches are evaluated throughout the season, including the postseason. Beyond on-pitch success, other factors such as recruiting, pre-season expectations, injuries and tactical coaching are also taken into account when assessing each candidate. Inclusion on previous watch lists is not a requirement for consideration for future watch lists.

About Kathy Delaney Smith

Delaney-Smith’s Harvard teams compiled a 630-434 (.592) record over her 40-year career, including a 367-168 (.685) record in Ivy League play. Delaney-Smith’s 630 wins ranks him 32nd in Division I history and ninth among coaches who have spent their entire careers with a single team.

Delaney-Smith led her teams to six NCAA Tournament appearances and nine WNIT appearances, as well as 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 winners, six Ivy League Rookie of the Year winners and all of Harvard’s 22 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 ever inducted. She still has more than three decades of her career 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 one of the winningest high school players and coaches in the state’s history. She was the first woman in state history to score 1,000 points at Sacred Heart High School. As a high school coach, Delaney-Smith coached Westwood High School to an overall record of 204-31 in 11 seasons, including a 96-game winning streak.

About their hoop stats

Her Hoop Stats was founded in 2017 to provide greater insight into women’s basketball at all levels. It began as a statistics site focused on providing consistent, reliable, and easily accessible women’s basketball data for mobile and desktop environments.