Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Georgia State on January 10, 2026 , Loss , 70, to, 72 , (OT)
WBB
Final
James Madison
70
at Georgia State
(OT)
72
James Madison University | Official Athletics Site
O’Regan Named to Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Midseason Watch List
1/28/2026 11:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HOPEWELL, N.J. – James Madison women's basketball head coach Sean O'Regan was selected to the 2026 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award, as announced by Her Hoop Stats on Wednesday morning.
The award, named after the legendary former Harvard head coach, honors the most outstanding mid-major women's basketball head coach in the country. This year's watch list includes coaches from six conferences.
O'Regan and the Dukes went 8-4 in a challenging non-conference slate, highlighted by victories over Virginia Tech (65-55, Nov. 23), Wisconsin (69-50, Nov. 29), and East Carolina (83-66, Dec. 3), with their NET non-conference strength of schedule ranking 70th in the nation.
JMU sits at 14-8 with a 6-4 mark in Sun Belt Conference play as it continues the second half of league action. The Dukes are led offensively by the conference's top scorer, Peyton McDaniel, who's averaging 18.4 points per contest and ranks second in career points among all active Division I players with 2,072. JMU has won three of its last four games and welcomes Louisiana (Jan. 29) and South Alabama (Jan. 31) to the Atlantic Union Bank Center this week.
The 20-person preseason watch list was announced in October. The five finalists for the award will be announced in March, with the winner being named around the Final Four.
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 32nd in Division I history.
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 nine Ivy League Player of the Year recipients, six Ivy League Rookie of the Year winners, and the first 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.
Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award Preseason Watch List
Megan Griffith, Columbia
Gayle Fulks, Davidson
Carly Thibault-DuDonis, Fairfield
Lisa Fortier, Gonzaga
Sean O'Regan, James Madison
Jory Collins, North Dakota State
Carla Berube, Princeton
Tammi Reiss, Rhode Island
Aaron Roussell, Richmond
Aaron Johnston, South Dakota State
The award, named after the legendary former Harvard head coach, honors the most outstanding mid-major women's basketball head coach in the country. This year's watch list includes coaches from six conferences.
O'Regan and the Dukes went 8-4 in a challenging non-conference slate, highlighted by victories over Virginia Tech (65-55, Nov. 23), Wisconsin (69-50, Nov. 29), and East Carolina (83-66, Dec. 3), with their NET non-conference strength of schedule ranking 70th in the nation.
JMU sits at 14-8 with a 6-4 mark in Sun Belt Conference play as it continues the second half of league action. The Dukes are led offensively by the conference's top scorer, Peyton McDaniel, who's averaging 18.4 points per contest and ranks second in career points among all active Division I players with 2,072. JMU has won three of its last four games and welcomes Louisiana (Jan. 29) and South Alabama (Jan. 31) to the Atlantic Union Bank Center this week.
The 20-person preseason watch list was announced in October. The five finalists for the award will be announced in March, with the winner being named around the Final Four.
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 32nd in Division I history.
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 nine Ivy League Player of the Year recipients, six Ivy League Rookie of the Year winners, and the first 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.
Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award Preseason Watch List
Megan Griffith, Columbia
Gayle Fulks, Davidson
Carly Thibault-DuDonis, Fairfield
Lisa Fortier, Gonzaga
Sean O'Regan, James Madison
Jory Collins, North Dakota State
Carla Berube, Princeton
Tammi Reiss, Rhode Island
Aaron Roussell, Richmond
Aaron Johnston, South Dakota State
Players Mentioned
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