Tara VanDerveer coaching career: Retired Stanford HC's major achievements and biggest wins explored

On Tuesday, Tara VanDerveer announced that she will be retiring after spending 38 seasons with the Stanford Cardinal. VanDerveer is the winningest coach in college basketball history and retired with a huge legacy.

In her statement, VanDerveer said:

"I've been spoiled to coach the best and brightest at one of the world's foremost institutions for nearly four decades. Coupled with my time at Ohio State and Idaho, and as head coach of the United States National Team, it has been an unforgettable ride."

"The joy for me was in the journey of each season, seeing a group of young women work hard for each other and form an unbreakable bond," she added. "Winning was a byproduct. I've loved the game of basketball since I was a little girl, and it has given me so much throughout my life. I hope I've been able to give at least a little bit back."

Stanford has announced that Tara VanDerveer will work with the school in an advisory capacity and added that they are looking at the appropriate ways of honoring her legacy and impact on the program.

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Tara VanDerveer coaching career

VanDerveer, 70, played for the Indiana Hoosiers from 1972 to 1975 as a point guard under coach Bobby Knight. While she wanted to pursue a law degree after graduation, money ran out, and she returned home.

She discovered her love for coaching while she worked with her sister's high school basketball team. VanDerveer applied for an assistant coaching job in college and was accepted at Ohio State, where she worked while finishing her master's degree in sports administration.

Tara VanDerveer moved to Idaho in 1978, then a Division II program. She took the Vandals from a 2-18 and 10-7 in the previous years to a 17-8 season in her first year, followed by a 25-6 in the next. After this, she returned to Ohio in 1980, and built the program to be a nationally ranked team with three March Madness appearances.

VanDerveer spent five seasons with the Buckeyes before moving to Stanford in 1985. During her tenure, the Cardinal won all three of their NCAA Championships in 1990, 1992 and 2021. She retires with an overall 1,216-271 record.

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Tara VanDerveer's major achievements

Tara VanDerveer topped the list of most wins by a coach in January, surpassing Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (1,202). She has been named National Coach of the Year five times, consecutively from 1988 to 1990, followed by one in 2011 and recently in 2020.

VanDerveer was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and later into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Despite all the work at Stanford, coach VanDerveer is most known for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. With Lisa Leslie, Katrina McClain and Sheryl Swoopes, she had one of the greatest national teams in women's basketball history. Team USA had a 52-0 record in exhibition games and won gold after a perfect 8-0 record.

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Tara VanDerveer's biggest wins

In 1978, VanDerveer's Idaho Vandals won the season opener, 70–68 in overtime against Northern Montana College. This was her first of the 1,216 wins.

In 1991, the Stanford Cardinal started the season having lost three starters from the prior year's team, including All-American and future Hall of Famer Sonja Henning. With the odds stacked against them, the Cardinal won their second title defeating Western Kentucky 78-62.

The 1996 Atlanta Olympics saw Team USA defeat Brazil 111-87 to win the gold medal. It is the most-watched women's basketball game to this day, averaging 19.5 million viewers, and helped pave the way for the launch of the WNBA in 1997.

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