LSU and More Teams Celebrate Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year Contenders

South Carolina's Dawn Staley, UConn's Geno Auriemma and LSU's Kim Mulkey headline the midseason watch list for the Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year award.

Notre Dame's Niele Ivey may have the inside track for now with the Fighting Irish sitting atop the AP Top 25 and Coaches Polls.

But without one team standing head and shoulders above the pack in the race for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, Coach of the Year is firmly up for grabs.

Staley is the three-time reigning winner for Coach of the Year and she could plausibly extend her streak to four years. The Gamecocks have dropped two of their last three games but still boast a 23-3 overall record. A March 2 meeting with No. 14 Kentucky provides an opportunity for them to close out the regular season on a high note before focusing their attention on the SEC tournament.

Vic Schaefer's résumé could be tough to ignore, though, thanks to Texas' impressive run over the last few weeks. The Longhorns beat No. 24 Vanderbilt, No. 2 South Carolina, No. 8 Kentucky and No. 5 LSU in succession. They also have wins over Oklahoma, Alabama, Maryland and Tennessee from earlier in the year.

Elsewhere, the battle for the Big Ten's regular-season title could have major implications on NCAA tournament seeding, in addition to the Coach of the Year race.

UCLA and USC are third and fourth respectively in the AP and Coaches polls, and they each have one conference loss. The Bruins and Trojans face off March 1 to bring the regular season to a close, and the outcome could determine the champion of the Big Ten.

Coach of the Year could come down to that game, too, should UCLA's Cori Close or USC's Lindsay Gottlieb take home the honor.