ELUSIVE TITLE NO MORE
Cardinal give VanDerveer, the game’s winningest coach, a third crown after 29-year drought
You thought it was going to be easy?
Tara VanDerveer knew it wasn’t going to be easy. This wasn’t just about the pandemic, the eviction from Maples Pavilion, surviving the 87 nights in hotels, adhering strictly to COVID protocols. It wasn’t just about winning six games in 15 days or overcoming the frantic final moments against a ferocious Arizona team.
It was also about 29 long years of waiting to raise that championship trophy again.
“I’ve had heartbreak with teams that had great shots at winning it,” VanDerveer said.
But heartbreak finally took a holiday on Sunday. VanDerveer’s Stanford Cardinal team beat Arizona by a single point on Sunday afternoon, when a last second shot by Aari McDonald didn’t fall. The 54-53 thrilling title game capped an exciting, watershed tournament.
And in the end, the sport’s all-time winningest coach finally got the one victory that had been so elusive for almost three decades.
“This program is what it
is because of Tara, the legacy that she’s created,” said Haley Jones, who was named the most outstanding player of the tournament. “So many great players have passed through this program and they have all come for the same reason we have: to be coached by the greatest, to develop not only as a player but as a young woman.
“It’s an honor to be able to do this for her and with her.”
VanDeveer’s 29 years between titles is believed to be the longest drought of any coach in a major sport. Baseball manager Bucky Harris went 23 years between a World Series win with the Washington Senators in 1924 and one with the Yankees in 1947.
But 29 years? That requires tenacity. A love for the job. A satisfying work environment. VanDerveer has all of that.
This Cardinal team did what all so many other talented Stanford teams could not do: put that trophy back in VanDerveer’s hands. Some of them lost in the Elite Eight. Nine lost in the semifinal game. Two teams lost in the final. Some were felled by torn ACLs or broken feet.
All left the NCAA Tournament with broken hearts. Until this team.
“I really feel like we won this for all the great players that have played at Stanford,” VanDerveer said. “The former players would be so proud to be part of this team because of the resilience they’ve shown, because of the sisterhood that they represent.”
Jamila Wideman and Kate Starbird, Candice Wiggins and Jayne Appel, Nekka and Chiney Ogwumike, Ros Gold-Onwude, Kayla Pedersen. They all tried to win but couldn’t get there.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to be lucky,” VanDerveer said. “If you’ve got a faint heart of a weak stomach, then don’t coach.”
Stanford was lucky that McDonald’s contested, off-balance shot didn’t fall for the win.
In our winning-is-everything socieety, VanDerveer’s championship drought sometimes seemed to overshadow everything
else she has accomplished. Her wins and records were often met with a “Yeah, but…” which is absurd. But she has always known that’s part of the deal.
“This isn’t why I coach,” VanDerveer said. “I really just want to be a teacher. And each year is a great year.”
Still, there were a lot of people in the world of women’s basketball rooting for VanDerveer to get the ultimate reward one more time. The last time she won a championship she was 38, had won a title just 24 months earlier, and had put Stanford on the map. She says she didn’t think much about it, but who could imagine it would take almost 30 years to win another?
Along the way, she helped changed women’s basketball. She took a year off to coach an Olympic team that not only won a gold medal but also fundamentally changed everything about the game, including spawning a professional league. Over the past three decades, recruiting has intensified, the spotlight has gotten brighter, the competition has become cutthroat and always — as we learned again in this tournament — the disparity and sexism remained.
But VanDerveer, now a wise elder of the game, has thrived in all of it, always helping to grow the game. Always adjusting. Always adapting. Always trying to win over the next fan.
And always sharing. The game’s newest coaching star, Arizona’s Aida Barnes, has spoken all week about how VanDerveer has helped her, offering advice and encouragement.
“To be at the same school for so many years, to have sustained success, shows what a phenomenal coach she is,” Barnes said. “She’s helped me since I became the coach at Arizona. She’s believed in me. She’s given me advice, constructive criticism, she’s always cheering for me. … For me as a young coach to be able to coach against her makes me better.”
Of all the things VanDerveer has experienced in 29 years, nothing compared to this season. She has already dubbed Sunday’s achievement the “COVID championship.”
Kiana Williams told a story about how in September, when the players returned to campus, they were supposed to quarantine for five days. But on the fourth day, they broke quarantine to play a pickup game in a nearby gym.
“When she found out she was so heartbroken and disappointed, I felt like the only way to make up for that was to win a national championship for her,” Williams said, adding that she and the other seniors became more determined leaders in the aftermath.
“I was hurt, I was upset and I let them know that,” VanDerveer said. “I think that developed more trust with us. They understood they have to be accountable. That incident helped us. It set the tone that we’re going to be honest.”
At points during this challenging season, VanDerveer thought, “this is too difficult.” She wasn’t sure the group was going to make it through all the obstacles.
It wasn’t easy. But not only did Stanford make it through, they raised the trophy at the end.
“Sometimes,” VanDerveer said, “you just have to stick with things.”