From Coaching Her Younger Sister’s Team to Becoming the Head Coach at Cardinal – How Tara VanDerveer Defied Odds in a Male-Driven Basketball World

Tara VanDerveer has done it. She recently became the most winningest coach in the college basketball history surpassing the legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski. While she deserved every applause and a standing ovation, not much has been shared about her life. She has provided the impetus for the Stanford, which was famous for its education system, to achieve three national championship titles.

She has in fact shaped champions with her influence and without her, Stanford might not have gotten even a single call to the NCAA tournament. ‘Unusual’ is such a common term in her journey that it wouldn’t be wrong to say that she was the chosen one to accomplish these feats.

Childhood and College

Not many know but VanDerveer shares a connection with the famous author Margaret Mitchell. VanDerveer was born to Rita and Dunbar on June 26, 1953. The couple decided to name their daughter after the plantation in ‘Gone With Wind’ which was penned by Mitchell. As a youngster, Tara tried her luck with a number of sports and played with both boys and girls.

Unfortunately, there were no girl teams at her first high school. And girls too stopped playing when they grew older. This prompted DanVerdeer who had a passion for sports to try her game with the boys, Therefore she used to buy the best ball she could afford so that the boys would take her in a team whenever they wanted to play with her ball. VanDerveer had an outstanding balling prowess which helped her get a place in the Buffalo Seminary’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She also made advancements as a college basketball player.

VanDerveer wanted to play basketball for Mount Holyoke but due to financial restrictions decided to to the Albany. There the team wasn’t as competitive as she wanted it to be. Hence, she convinced some of her friends to attend the AIAW National Championship. There she took notes and watched as many games as possible and finally decided to go to the Indiana.

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She transferred to her new college and had one of the best balling years of her athletic life. During her sophomore year, she propelled the team to reach the Final Four. VanDerveeer did not only stop at this. She also decided to attend the IU’s men basketball head coach Bobby Knight’s practices which later benefitted her when she started coaching Stanford. However, later on, her career took a turn when her parents asked her to take up a pastime hobby.

Initial Tryst with Coaching

VanDerveer finished her college and planned to return to law school after a year. She went back to her home where her family saw her mostly playing chess and sleeping. This urged her parents to ask her to coach her younger sister Marie’s basketball team. When a five years younger Marie made it to the high school, the institute had a basketball team for girls. And it was then that VanDerveer started looking at coaching in a professional way.

The Massachusetts-born applied to different colleges and universities as an unpaid graduate assistant. She received a reply from Ohio State. The director of the athletic department had previously seen her play for the Indiana. This made things easier for the budding coach as she was recruited as an assistant coach for the varsity squad. Other than that she was made the head coach of the JV squad. After finding success in her current role, she was appointed as an assistant at the Old Dominion. But since VanDerveer wanted to complete her education, she went to the Ohio State in a paid position. 

VanDerveer stayed for 2 years at Idaho State before being recruited in the capacity of a head coach at University of Idaho. With VanDerveer’s efforts, the team finished their first season with a 17-8 record and extended their victory run to 25-6 in the next. This got them a place in the AIAW tournament.

The winningest coach then came back to the Ohio State where she turned heads when playing a game against the Iowa. The contest was attended by a whopping 22,157 fans which is a record in itself. Implementing the strategies of VanDerveer the Ohio State won the match. It was then that she got a call from the Cardinal who were a team that coulod be overlooked any day by the top notch teams, and VanDerveer changed that.

Coaching at Stanford

Her first two years with the Cardinal weren’t good enough. They had a difficult time and both their campaigns were mired in complications. By the third year, VanDerver had recruited her players who with the help of their head coach had a brilliant 27-5 record. They got the bid to the NCAA tournament in 1988 and from then there was no looking back.

The Cardinal improved upon their performance, winning the PAC-10 regular season in 1989. VanDerveer was also named the National Coach of the Year consecutively for three years from 1988 to 1990. During the 1990 season, Stanford especially challenged teams on their way to the Championship title. They upended the Virginia Cavaliers and then hammered the Auburn in the marquee Finale. Their heroics earned point guard Jennifer Azzi the Most Outstanding Player award.

The Stanford since then have come together as a team ever since then winning the NCAA tournament thrice including the one in 1990. Additionally, they have also made it to 13 NCAA Regional Final Fours, and 14 Pac-12 Conference tournament championships. Her three NCAA title triumphs make her one of the four women coaches to win at least three tournament titles. Additionally, she has had about 30 of her players to be drafted into the WNBA. She has coached some top-notch talent including Nneka Ogwumike and Chiney Ogwumike.

While many coaches will come and go, one name that will live forever is that of Tara VanDerveer for shaping talent in the college basketball like none other could.

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