The winningest head coach in Ivy League history, The Friends of Harvard Women's Basketball Head Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith retired at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season after 40 years with Harvard basketball. Delaney-Smith put Harvard basketball on the map and expanded its reach both nationally and internationally as one of the longest tenured coaches in collegiate women’s basketball.

Delaney-Smith owned a 40-year coaching record at Harvard of 630-434 with a 367-168 record in Ivy League play. Those marks include 12 20-win seasons, 11 Ivy titles, a .500 record or better in 31 of her last 33 campaigns and 16 postseason appearances. Her 630 career wins and 367 Ivy League victories are the most of any head coach - men's or women's - in the Ivy League. 

With Delaney-Smith leading the way, Harvard finished lower than fourth in the Ancient Eight only four times and finished in the top three in the league standings in 15 of her last 17 years, including shares of the Ivy title in 2005 and 2008 and outright titles in 2002, 2003 and 2007.

She coached eight Ivy League Players of the Year, six Ivy League Rookies of the Year and 41 first-team All-Ivy League selections. Additionally, all 21 members of Harvard’s 1,000 point club have been coached by Delaney-Smith.

Delaney-Smith and 1997-98 team turned in one of its finest seasons with a record-setting 23-5 overall mark and the first-ever NCAA tournament victory for an Ivy League women’s basketball team with a win over Stanford. The Crimson became the first No. 16-seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in the history of the men’s or women’s NCAA basketball tournaments. Delaney-Smith’s squad also captured its third straight outright Ivy League title - the first Ivy team to accomplish such a feat.

Harvard made it to the postseason in six of the last seven seasons, including in 2018-19 when Delaney-Smith led Harvard to advance to the WNIT, advancing to the second round for the fifth time and hosting two postseason games for the first time in program history.