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If there was any doubt as to which women’s college basketball coach should have won the Coach of the Year Award before Thursday, there is not any at all now.
Vanderbilt women’s basketball head coach Shea Ralph swept the coaching awards, per a Thursday media release. Thursday afternoon, the Associated Press announced that Ralph was the outlet’s 2026 Coach of the Year in women’s basketball after leading Vanderbilt to a 29-5 record and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
But that just scratched the surface of Ralph’s postseason recognition. Ralph also won the Coach of the Year Award from the WBCA, USBWA while also winning the Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year. When it was all said and done, a total of seven different outlets named Ralph their Coach of the Year.
The recognition and plethora of awards that Ralph earned is something that was rightfully won. Vanderbilt far surpassed preseason expectations as Ralph led the Commodores to its highest season win total in program history and also winning the most SEC games it has won in a season in program history with 13.
Vanderbilt finished second in a loaded SEC conference while making a run to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009. In five seasons, Ralph has taken Vanderbilt to heights it has not seen in quite some time.
15 days
Vanderbilt baseball beat No. 20 Texas A&M 14-8.
Vanderbilt men’s tennis lost to No. 21 Florida 4-1.
Vanderbilt women’s tennis lost to No. 8 Oklahoma 4-3.
Vanderbilt men’s golf at the Mason Rudolph Championship, Day 1 at 8 a.m. CT
Vanderbilt baseball at No. 20 Texas A&M, 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
Vanderbilt track and field at the Florida Relays, Day 1.
Vanderbilt bowling at the Rochester Regional, NCAA Tournament, Day 1.
When Colin Barczi’s going deep, he’s doing so in bunches. All six of his home runs this season have come in just two games.
A pretty good sign that that shoulder is getting closer to full strength: pic.twitter.com/H241B2quhA
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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