Fresh off her gold medal from the World Championships for Young Women in Croatia this past summer, Kathy Delaney-Smith, the winningest Ivy League women's basketball coach of all-time, begins her 22nd season at the helm of the Crimson.

Delaney-Smith's 21-year coaching record at Harvard is 319-229, with a 194-92 record in the Ivy League. Her 319 wins are the most ever by a basketball coach -- men's or women's -- at Harvard. She reached the 300-win milestone with a 69-58 win over Central Michigan at the First Tennessee Tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

In the 1999-2000 campaign, Delaney-Smith picked up her 250th victory when she guided the Crimson to a win over Sacred Heart in the Harvard Invitational, and became the first Ivy League women's coach to record 150 Ancient Eight victories with a win over Dartmouth and gained her 200th overall in 1996 versus Northeastern.

Under the direction of Delaney-Smith, the 2002-03 Harvard women's basketball team (22-5, 14-0 Ivy) won its second consecutive Ivy League title, and the eighth in school history, all the while etching their names in Ivy lore.

The year concluded with a hard fought 79-69 loss to Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In between there was a school record 16 straight wins, 26 consecutive Ivy League victories and the second undefeated Ivy season in school history.

The Crimson finished the 2001-02 season with a 22-6 overall record, and a 13-1 Ivy mark. It was Harvard's sixth 20-win season under Delaney-Smith, and its second-highest win total in school history. Delany-Smith's squads have finished .500 or better in 16 of the last 17 seasons.

Under Delaney-Smith's tutelage, Harvard has evolved into one of the Northeast's most successful programs. The Crimson turned in one of its finest seasons in 1997-98 with a record-setting 23-5 overall record and the first-ever NCAA Tournament victory for a Harvard and Ivy League women's basketball team with a 71-67 win over Stanford. The win halted the Cardinal's 59-game home win streak, and the Crimson became the first 16-seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in the history of the men's or women's NCAA Basketball Tournament. Delaney-Smith's squad also captured its third straight outright Ivy League title -- the first Ivy team to accomplish such a feat.

She has directed Harvard to all eight of its Ivy titles -- including its first in school history during the 1985-86 season. In 1996, Delaney-Smith guided the Crimson to its inaugural trip to the NCAA Tournament and will saw her team to that level for the fifth time in March.

Delaney-Smith was named the 1996-97 Ivy League Coach of the Year after her squad recorded a perfect 14-0 Ivy mark and landed its second straight NCAA appearance. It was the first time in the league's history that a team had gone undefeated since the institution of double round-robin play in 1982-83.

Delaney-Smith came to Harvard in 1982 after compiling an incredible 204-31 record at Westwood (MA) High School, with an unparalleled six undefeated regular seasons and one Massachusetts state title, in addition to 96 straight wins in the regular season. While at Westwood, she coached seven Boston Globe All-Scholastic selections, as well as numerous other players who went on to play in college. She was inducted into the Westwood Hall of Fame in 1996.

The National High School Coaches Association selected her as Coach of the Year in 1981, and she was the first woman named to the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1986. The Crimson mentor was also named to the New Agenda Northeast Hall of Fame in 1998. A 1971 graduate of Bridgewater (Mass.) State College, Delaney-Smith was inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame in October of 1999.

Delaney-Smith holds the distinction of being the first Massachusetts high school girls basketball player to score 1,000 points&emdash;all while playing for her mother, the late Peg Delaney, at Sacred Heart of Newton. In recognition of her contribution to the game, Delaney-Smith, along with former Crimson standout Allison Feaster, were part of the inaugural class to be inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame this past October.

In 1997, she was chosen a Leading Woman by the Patriots' Trail Girl Scout Council, which recognizes women who have succeeded in their professional and public lives. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the organization. She was also named a 1997 Newton Tab Person of the Year. The Newton Tab is a weekly newspaper in Newton, Mass., where Delaney-Smith has been a resident for 10 years.

In March of 2000, Delaney-Smith received the New England Women's Leadership Award for Sports &endash; another testament of the lives that she has touched through her courage, talents, and accomplishments. The awards were presented by young girls of the Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester, who benefit from the leadership of the award winners.

Delaney-Smith was bestowed with the prestigious 'Carol Eckman Award' at the 2000 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) convention, held at the Final Four in Philadelphia. The Award is presented annually to an active WBCA coach who exemplifies Eckman's spirit, integrity and through sportsmanship, commitment to the student-athlete, honesty, ethical behavior, courage and dedication to purpose. The award is named in honor of the late Carol Eckman, the former West Chester State College coach who is considered the "Mother of the Women's Collegiate Basketball Championship."

Among Delaney Smith's civic involvements is her association with the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life". During the summer Delaney-Smith runs a basketball clinic at Harvard, and is the owner of the Net Results Basketball Summer Camp.

Delaney-Smith resides with her husband, Francis, and their son, Jared, in Newton..