In the history of NCAA women's basketball, only six coaches have amassed at least 1,000 career victories, an elite group that includes Bentley University's Hall of Fame coach, Barbara Stevens.

Stevens, the only non-Division I coach in that exclusive club and a 2020 selection for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and joined the 1,000-win club when her team dispatched Adelphi University, 78-66, on Jan. 17, 2018. Stevens retired in June 2020 fourth all-time in career victories with a 43-year record of 1058-291.

The pinnacle of Stevens' coaching career came on March 28, 2014, when her 28th Bentley team capped off a perfect season, 35-0, with a come-from-behind 73-65 win over West Texas A&M for the program's first-ever NCAA Division II national championship.

Her accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. Stevens has been the WBCA Division II National Coach of the Year an unprecedented five times (1992, 1999, 2001, 2013, and 2014) and has been voted Northeast-10 Coach of the Year 16 times (1988-89, 1991-93, 1996-2001, 2003, 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2019) She was also named the Division II Coach of the Year by the American Women’s Sports Federation following the 1988-89 season, and was the WBCA District One Coach of the Year annually from 1991-93, again from 1999-2001, in 2003, from 2012-14 and in 2017.

Stevens was one of 100 members of the charter induction class into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in October 2002, and both the Clark and Bridgewater State Halls of Fame have also called her name.              

In 2002, Stevens was presented with the prestigious Carol Eckman Award from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, given for sportsmanship, commitment to the student-athlete, honesty, ethical behavior, courage, and dedication to purpose.              

In July 1994, she traveled to France and Israel as an assistant coach for the USA Select Team, marking the second straight summer she was involved in USA Basketball. In 1993, she was an assistant coach for the West team at the U.S. Olympic Festival.        

Barbara is a native of Southbridge. She resides in Waltham.