SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga Women's Basketball Head Coach Lisa Fortier has been named to the 20-person watch list for the 2025 Kathy Delaney-Smith Coach of the Year Award.
Fortier was named the award winner in 2024, which was the inaugural year of the award. This year’s watch list includes coaches from 14 conferences.
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 and are ineligible: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, and SEC.
Additionally, Oregon State and Washington State are ineligible this year as membership in the Pac-12 Conference evolves.
Interim head coaches are eligible, although total games coached will be taken into consideration. The 10-person midseason watch list will be announced in January and the five finalists for the award will be announced in March, with the winner being named around the Final Four during the NCAA March Madness tournament.
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.
The complete list in alphabetical order by school is:
- Bart Brooks, Belmont
- Chris Kielsmeier, Cleveland St.
- Megan Griffith, Columbia
- Gayle Fulks, Davidson
- Allison Pohlman, Drake
- Joddie Gleason, Eastern Wash.
- Carly Thibault-DuDonis, Fairfield
- Karl Smesko, FGCU
- Vanessa Blair-Lewis, George Mason
- Lisa Fortier, Gonzaga
- Amy Vachon, Maine
- Rick Insell, Middle Tenn.
- Carla Berube, Princeton
- Aaron Roussel, Richmond
- Cindy Griffin, Saint Joseph’s
- Aaron Johnston, South Dakota St.
- Ashley Langford, Tulane
- Missy Bilderback, ULM
- Lindy La Rocque, UNLV
- Beth O’Boyle, VCU
