"Tara Vanderveer, our coach, was out to kill us": When Dawn Staley gave the "genius" NCAA legend her flowers

Tara VanDerveer has cemented her legacy as one of the greatest mentors on the basketball court. Dawn Staley, is a prime example of VanDerveer’s influence. Long before Staley led South Carolina to championships and an undefeated season, she found guidance and inspiration in VanDerveer.

In 2013, when Staley was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, she paid tribute to VanDerveer during her speech. Reflecting on the time they worked together. It was particularly about the 1996 U.S. Olympic team’s run. During the interview, Staley said:

"Tara Vanderveer, our coach, was out to kill us. What Tara did was genius."

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"She made us depend on each other and in doing so she took a group of individuals, talent, and molded us into a team with one goal, to win gold. Silver was not an option."

Acknowledging VanDerveer’s role in shaping her career, Staley said:

“Always prepared, strategic, and thoughtful, Tara changed the way I approached the game. I hope she noticed my change.”

The relationship between VanDerveer and Staley didn’t start as one of mentorship. VanDerveer’s Stanford teams twice dashed Staley’s hopes of winning an NCAA title during her college years at Virginia. In 1990 and 1992, Stanford eliminated Virginia in the Final Four, going on to win the national championship both times.

However, their paths crossed again under different circumstances when VanDerveer became the head coach of the 1996 U.S. women’s basketball team, and Staley was selected as the team’s point guard. As a result, the team achieved a flawless 60-0 record and won the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics. VanDerveer once explained in a post-game interview:

"Sometimes with players, you are going to tell them things they don’t want to hear, Dawn could probably tell you a couple of stories of things that maybe she didn’t want to hear from me."

VanDerveer pushed her players to their limits, refusing to sugarcoat her critiques.

Tara Vanderveer passed the torch to Dawn Staley

Despite VanDerveer advising her against taking the job of the coach at South Carolina, Staley applied for it. Nikki McCray, an assistant coach at South Carolina and Staley’s teammate on the 1996 Olympic team, sees a direct connection between the two coaches. McCray said, according to ESPN:

"She was hard on her point guards. Our team went as they went."

"And Dawn is hard on our point guards, and there’s a direct correlation from her experience with Tara. Tara’s teams are disciplined, fundamentally sound, they don’t make mistakes. You won’t outwork a Tara VanDerveer team. It just isn’t going to happen. Dawn has those same standards."

Staley herself has spoken about the immense pressure she felt during the 1996 Olympics, not only as a player but also from VanDerveer’s high expectations:

"The amount of pressure that was on our team, on Tara, she made us feel all of the pressure that was on her. She didn’t want that team to fail."

Despite their bond, Staley and VanDerveer remain fierce competitors on the court. As a coach, Staley has faced VanDerveer four times, including a Sweet 16 matchup in 2012, but has yet to secure a victory. Staley joked that those losses make up a notable portion of VanDerveer’s more than 1,000 career wins. VanDerveer has stepped away from her coaching duties. Staley, on the other hand, was named the head coach of the U.S. women’s national team.