Merrimack Valley News

There will be no 2020-21 Ivy League basketball season.

The Ivy League suspended fall sports this summer, and on Nov. 12, the conference announced all fall and winter sports were canceled for this year.

Harvard coaches and players were not surprised when the season was called off, and have accepted the decision gracefully, according to the head coaches of both the women’s and men’s programs. Harvard is only holding online classes this school year, so no student-athletes are on campus.

Women's head basketball coach Kathy Delaney-Smith and Harvard men's coach Tommy Amaker spoke about the season being canceled during a video interview for Crimson Conversation.

The coaches – both of whom hold Harvard's record for career wins – sat down with senior associate director of athletics Nathan Fry to talk about the lost season, how their teams are coping and their thoughts about the future.

“Obviously, it was extremely disappointing, but I would say we were prepared,” Delaney-Smith said. “I think being prepared and anticipating that decision allowed us to handle it a little better, and that’s how much staff and I are handling it.”

She said she has been “amazed” by how well her players accepted the news. Delaney-Smith said the student-athletes said they are “grateful for their time with their families” and will embrace the freedom they normally would not have this time of year.

“I’m really pleased with what I’m hearing from them,” Delaney-Smith said. “We’re getting through it and it’s the right choice. It’s the safest decision. As much as it hurts, I’m fully supportive of it.”

Amaker said his players, and all Harvard athletic programs, expected this announcement. He said his team took it well, despite the obvious disappointment.

“But I think they were prepared as well,” Amaker said. “I think they were anticipating this decision. In fact, I think they would have been probably stunned and shocked if it had gone the other way.”

He said although it was a “tough decision,” it was the right one and the safe one. Amaker said it also fit with what the Ivy League and Harvard are and what they stand for in athletics and on a larger scale.

He said his players have sought out “small wins” where they could still learn and grow. They are working on improving their ball-handling skills, among other areas of the game.

Delaney-Smith echoed Amaker's sentiments, saying her post players are expected to have better skills when they return to campus. Overall, they said, their players have accepted this as the smart and safe choice.

“The only attitude is gratitude,” Amaker said.

Both coaches said they are relying on Zoom to stay in touch with potential recruits, with Amaker adding, “Our staff has been amazing." 

“My staff is also phenomenal,” Delaney-Smith said. “They’re really, really good in Zoom. They’re naturals. They’re movie stars.”

However she said it is too bad recruits are not coming to campus. Harvard is “a special place,” Delaney-Smith said, and young people who visit it often experience that feeling.

Harvard athletics officials are major hoop fans and they said seeing other conferences allow teams to play has been difficult. They have watched fewer games than usual, but find themselves drawn to the sport they love. Fry said the “incredible uncertainty” makes this such a unusual year, with 20% of games canceled or postponed.

“It’s been hard to watch for me,” he said. “I’m a huge college basketball fan, always have been.”

“I’m in and out a little bit,” Amaker said.

The empty arenas take a lot out of the pageantry and the pandemic raises questions. Amaker said he has been told by friends who coach that they are jealous of his ability to sit this season out.

He has spent a lot of time reading, both about basketball and leadership, adding that he remains a major fan of basketball and will keep an eye on this season.

“I struggle with that,” Delaney-Smith said, noting coaches who are friends are at practices and competing in games. While she envies that, she has another emotion as well.

“At the same time, I’m scared to death for them,” Delaney-Smith said. “I’m fearful for what will happen. I feel it’s unsafe. I’m nervous for them. But I will watch it. I’m a junkie. I will watch.”

Fry said he has always enjoyed seeing Harvard athletes shooting around mornings, afternoons and evenings. Walking around the campus this year, that’s lost.

Delaney-Smith has a sterling record of success on the court. As a player at Sacred Heart of Newton, she was the first Massachusetts girl to score 1,000 points in high school competition. Her mother, the late Peg Delaney, was her coach.

She attended Bridgewater State, which did not have a basketball program, only a club team. Seeking a way to channel her highly competitive nature, she joined the synchronized swimming team. Bridgewater inducted her into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

Before coming to Harvard in 1982, she led Westwood (Massachusetts), High School to a 204-31 record with six undefeated regular seasons and a state title.

In 38 seasons at Harvard, her record is 617-420, including a 360-159 mark in the Ivy League with 11 league titles. Delaney-Smith has led six teams into the NCAA tournament and eight more into the Women’s NIT.

She has won numerous accolades for her coaching and was a member of the 2003 inaugural class of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Delaney-Smith, 65, said she has remained at Harvard because there is a special feel to the place. She said she wants her players to learn, achieve and have fun.

“I want them to laugh, and I want them to take risks,” Delaney-Smith said in a video interview for Harvard. “Women, in particular, are afraid of mistakes. You’ll ask many women, their confidence struggles or varies. That makes me sad. I want them to be comfortable with who they are, I want them to take risks, I want them to embrace risks. Because that’s how you get better.”

Amaker has played and coached at the highest levels.

He started at point guard for Duke all four years he was there, leading the Blue Devils to the 1986 NCAA title game as a junior. He also won a gold medal that year as the U.S. national team won the 1986 world championships.

As a senior, Amaker was named to All-America teams and was selected as the nation’s best defensive player while also working toward a bachelor’s degree in economics.

He served as an assistant coach and then associate head coach at Duke as the powerhouse team roared to five Final Fours and won a pair of national crowns. Amaker was named to the Duke Sports Hall of Fame.

Amaker was the head coach at Seton Hall for four seasons and spent six years at Michigan before coming to Harvard, where he has a record of 251-139 in 14 seasons, with seven Ivy League titles. His overall coaching mark is 427-278.

Amaker, 55, is a member of the W.T. Woodson H.S. Hall of Fame (Fairfax, Virginia), the Washington Metropolitan Basketball Hall of Fame, the Duke Sports Hall of Fame and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Fry, a self-described “huge college basketball fan,” came to Harvard in 2003 as the Athletic Department’s director of compliance. He was promoted to assistant director of athletics in 2005, named associate director in 2008 and reached his current position in 2014.

Fry is the primary sport administrator for men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s golf. He also oversees the admissions and recruitment process for athletics, the compliance department, academic integration and campus relations.