Tara VanDerveer: Basketball

American Star of the Women’s International Sports Hall of Fame

When Tara VanDerveer arrived at Stanford in 1985 to take over as just the third coach in the school’s history, the Cardinals were a mere 9-19 the preceding season, having missed postseason play for the third consecutive year. In just her third season at the helm, VanDerveer had her team completely turned around, finishing the 1987–88 season with an impressive 27-5 record and an appearance in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen. Even though there was very little room left to improve, VanDerveer did just that during her fourth and fifth seasons at Stanford. She coached her team to the Elite Eight during the 1988–89 season and during the 1989–90 season, VanDerveer led the Stanford Cardinal women’s basketball team to its first ever national title. Stanford and VanDerveer quickly rose to elite status in women’s collegiate basketball and have never looked back. With a recent contract extension signed, VanDerveer will remain at the helm of the team through the 2011–12 campaign and it should be a while before Stanford even needs to consider hiring the fourth coach in its history.

VanDerveer’s list of achievements at Stanford alone is staggering. In her first 22 seasons on The Farm (the nickname given to Stanford’s basketball arena), she has compiled a 571-137 record, good for a .806 winning percentage. She has led her team to two NCAA Championships, three title game appearances, six Final Four appearances, 16 Pac-10 Titles, and 20 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.

While these results are quite awe-inspiring, they are of no surprise to the ever-growing list of people who have been affected by VanDerveer’s golden touch. She simply wins wherever she goes. In her very first coaching job at Idaho, she led the Vandals to a 42-14 (.750 winning percentage) record in her two seasons there. In her second and final season with Idaho, her team appeared in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Tournament, which was the national tournament before the NCAA Tournament was established. She then launched her next basketball team into national prominence when she coached the Ohio State Buckeyes to a 110-37 record (.748 winning percentage) in five seasons. This stint included four consecutive 20-win seasons, four Big Ten Championships, and three NCAA Tournament appearances. She led the Buckeyes as far as the Elite Eight during the 1984–85 season before taking her present job at Stanford.

VanDerveer has also experienced success on the international level. She famously took a one-year leave of absence from Stanford to coach the U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team. Her team took home the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. During her time as head coach of Team USA, she compiled an overall record of 88-8 (.917 winning percentage), and from 1995 through the Olympic gold in 1996, VanDerveer led the team to a remarkable 60-0 record.

It is often difficult to explain what exactly makes a coach successful or unsuccessful. In VanDerveer’s case, throughout her career she has been able to recruit the best talent by connecting with people. She achieves this relationship by being authentic and trustworthy to her players. Perhaps this is a trick she picked up while watching Coach Bob Knight before her practices when she was the starting guard for the Indiana Hoosiers women’s basketball team. In her own words from her book Shooting from the Outside, VanDerveer explains her coaching style:

I say what I think, sometimes to the chagrin of my players and bosses. I’m not out to hurt anyone’s feelings. In fact, I try to keep in tune with my players’ moods and concerns. But being honest is the only way I know, and it’s the only way I know how to coach. The most direct route between teaching and understanding, as between two points, is a straight line. Don’t make your players guess what you’re trying to tell them. Lay your cards on the table. Tell the truth as clearly as you know it.1

Her achievements have culminated in spots in the Women’s Basketball, Women’s Sports Foundation, Greater Buffalo, and Indiana University halls of fame. Her reach on the game of basketball stretches far and wide. Her coaching honors include National Coach of the Year three times while at Stanford, Big Ten Coach of the Year twice, District Coach of the Year three times, Pac-10 Coach of the Year six times, Northern California Women’s Intercollegiate Coach of the Year five times, USA Basketball National Coach of the Year, and the USOC Elite Basketball Coach of the Year. In addition, she has coached two Naismith Player of the Year honorees, 10 Kodak First- Team All-Americans, eight Pac-10 Player of the Year winners, 34 Pac-10 First-Teamers, and 30 players selected to play for Team USA. The impact VanDerveer is making in women’s basketball may be endless, as the countless great players that have learned from her will spread her lessons for generations to come.

Tara VanDerveer was born on June 26, 1953. She grew up in upstate New York during a time before Title IX brought equal opportunities for women in sports. In high school, despite her father’s lack of support toward her quest to be involved in basketball, Tara proved to herself that a woman can do anything a man can do by being the best basketball player, male or female, at her school. She then developed an interest in coaching while taking notes everyday from Bob Knight at Indiana. Her passion and relentless pursuit to be a part of the game she loved proved to her father that she could indeed have a future in basketball, and she showed the rest of us that any woman can accomplish anything she truly believes in.

Note

1. Tara VanDerveer, Shooting from the Outside (New York: Avon Books, 1997), 16.

The previous excerpt was written by Ryan Sleeper