HOPEWELL, N.J. – Illinois State head coach Kristen Gillespie was named one of 20 coaches on the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award Watch List presented by Her Hoop Stats, as announced Wednesday.
This year marks the inaugural season of the award, which is named after the legendary former Harvard head coach whose 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.
Gillespie has guided Illinois State to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference in her seventh season at the helm of the program. The Redbirds are coming off a third consecutive postseason appearance under Gillespie, the reigning Valley Coach of the Year, and the program's first MVC Regular Season title since 2009-2010. The Redbirds' 24-9 campaign, which included a 17-3 mark in MVC play, secured her first 20-win season at Illinois State. It was the most overall wins for the program since the 2012-2013 campaign and the most MVC wins for Illinois State since 1984-1985.
Last season, Gillespie achieved her 200th career win with a 67-63 victory on the road over Missouri State. She went on to capture her 100th victory at the helm of Illinois State on Jan. 22 in a 32-point win over Evansville at CEFCU Arena. She is the first Redbird head coach to amass 100 career wins at ISU since current Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton, who finished her ISU coaching career with a mark of 144-81 over seven seasons.
Later in the year Gillespie collected her 50th MVC regular season win Feb. 4 versus Evansville. Her 50 Valley wins in 82 games makes Gillespie the third Redbird coach to reach the mark. Only Hall of Famer Jill Hutchison did it faster (50 wins in 63 Valley games from 1984-1987). Pingeton also reached 50 MVC wins with the Redbirds, doing so in 93 games in 2010.
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.
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