The Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Coach of the Year is a basketball award given to head coaches in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The award is granted to the head coach voted as the most successful coach of the season by the league's coaches. The award is named in honor of Brenda Reilly, a teacher, sports administrator and three-sport coach in a career of almost three decades at Central Connecticut State University.
The award was first presented following the 1986âÂÂ87 season, marking the inaugural year of NEC-sponsored women's basketball. Kevin Jones of St. Francis Brooklyn was the inaugural recipient. The program with the most awards is Robert Morris, whose father-son duo of Sal and Charlie Buscaglia have garnered all of the Colonials' seven awards, but Robert Morris left the NEC for the Horizon League after the 2019âÂÂ20 season. Among current NEC members, Saint Francis has the most awards with five. Sacred Heart, also with five awards, left after the 2023âÂÂ24 season for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.