Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer
501 Wins

After Stanford’s 15 year Head Coach, Tara VanDerveer, Tara VanDerveer won her 500th career victory, her immediate plans were to head to the video room and devise a plan to win her 501st. This lack of sentimentality over such a tremendous achievement personifies Coach VanDerveer’s drive. Several times on that momentous day, VanDerveer repeated what the 500 game milestone meant to her. "It is not the individual achievements that give me satisfaction. Working with wonderful young women and being a part of their development as people and basketball players brings me great joy. For example, the highlights of this quin-centennial mark included a comic review of Tara’s "Formula for Success" performed by Vanessa Nygaard, Kate Paye, Jennifer Azzi, Heather Owen and Kate Starbird. Later that night Jennifer Azzi toasted her former coach, complimenting her on the important role VanDerveer has played in Jennifer’s development as a player and as a person. Wins are only a symbol of ‘figuring out the puzzle’ and bringing the players together to perform with a singular and unselfish purpose as a team."

As mentioned, Coach VanDerveer prefers not to make a big deal out of this arbitrary data point. Yet, the magnitude of 500 wins did cause her to stop and reflect. "When I first started coaching back at Idaho, I never imagined this day. It was such a distant possibility that I couldn’t even conceive of it as a goal." A lot of baskets have passed through the hoop in the 22 years she has coached. Tara VanDerveer began her career at the age of 24 at the small university in Moscow, Idaho, just as Title XI was beginning to make a difference in women’s athletics. In her two years at Idaho, she took a team from obscurity to powerhouse.

Obviously a star on the rise, she was soon tagged in 1980 as the new head coach of her graduate school alma mater, Ohio State University. Like Idaho, the Buckeyes had also struggled mightily before VanDerveer arrived. In her first season, the team was barely .500. By the time she left 4 years later, she had won 4 consecutive Big Ten Titles, had her team ranked in the top 10 and been recognized with numerous "Coach of the Year" awards.

When the offer came from Stanford to take over another ailing basketball program, one would have thought that it would be crazy to leave an established program (one that had several outstanding recruits signed for the upcoming season) to start again from scratch. Not only did the challenge include rebuilding, but there was the additional academic admissions obstacle that would make recruiting great players much more difficult. But, Stanford did a great recruiting job on VanDerveer herself. After agreeing to take the job, Tara called her Dad to tell him about the decision. He congratulated her, hung up the phone, turned to Tara’s mother and predicted, "She’ll be unemployed in 3 months."

Undaunted, Coach VanDerveer and her staff set to work immediately to prove such predictions wrong. They worked extremely hard to recruit the best player in Tennessee (Jennifer Azzi) out from under the noses of Volunteers in Knoxville. That year Tennessee won their first National Championship. Four years later, Stanford, led by Jennifer Azzi, won its first National Championship. The rest is in the history books. Another National Championship, 5 more trips to the final four, 8 more Pac 10 titles, 4 more All-Americas….etc., etc., etc…

It is not just remarkable that Tara VanDerveer won 500 games. To put the win in greater perspective consider the following:

• Only 16 other coaches in women’s Division I college basketball have reached 500 win pinnacle
  Her 500 wins were accomplished by rebuilding floundering programs at three different universities.
• Less than 10% of the top high school basketball players can be recruited by Stanford due to academic admissions standards.
• Only 4 of 16 coaches with 500+ wins have averaged more wins per season than VanDerveer (23.7) [Baremore (28.9), Summit (28), Landers (24.7), Conradt (24)]. Again, all these coaches reached the milestone at a single school.
• Tara ranks sixth in winning percentage among active head coaches [Baremore, Summit, Stringer, Auriemma, Selvig (Montana)]
• Tara’s influence goes well beyond big numbers. Consider the number of players who are still a part of basketball: Stanford has more professional players in the WNBA than any other school; Many former players and assistant coaches who are coaching including the head coaches at Northeastern, Ohio State, Washington, Arizona State, Boise State; former Stanford assistant Julie Plank was an assistant for the 2000 USA National Team.
• Some of you may not know this about Coach VanDerveer, but she also represents her players and fans well as an ambassador of Stanford University. For example, she and her staff are vigilant about NCAA regulations. Moreover, she never resorts to negative recruiting. She believes it is enough that Stanford is a great place to get an education and a fabulous opportunity to play basketball. Finally, other coaches in league and across the country recognize that Coach VanDerveer sets a standard for class and professionalism.
  
  But enough of that…500, 501, 502…and counting.