Van Derveer sets the record
Stanford basketball coach notches win No. 1,099 for all-time women’s college mark.
Tara VanDerveer reached the peak of women’s college basketball coaching ranks Tuesday night when top-ranked Stanford defeated the University of the Pacific 104- 61 in Stockton in an empty arena.
The victory gave VanDerveer a historic 1,099th victory in 42 seasons of coaching to pass the legendary Pat Summitt as the alltime winningest women’s coach.
After the victory, VanDerveer did her usual postgame routine congratulating her opposing coach and then regrouping with Cardinal players.
The team presented VanDerveer, 67, with a
jacket with the name “T-Dawg” on the back. She said it is a nickname from one of her players.
VanDerveer gave high fives to every player with her eyes shining behind her facemask.
“I hope Pat Summitt is looking down and saying, ‘Good job, Tara, keep going,’ ” she said on the ESPN broadcast. “I loved coaching against Pat. We really miss her.” Wearing black Stanford sweats with a matching facemask, VanDerveer mostly sat on the sideline as the Cardinal dominated the second half to assure the record.
Guard Anna Wilson led the charge in the third quarter when Stanford built a 79- 47 lead.
VanDerveer, in her 35th season at Stanford, said she would celebrate the record by donating $10 for each victory to a Bay Area food bank.
She has six more victories than Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who won his 1,093rd game Tuesday night.
Stanford (5- 0) struggled with its outside shooting to allow UOP to make it a game in the first half. Playing their first game of the season, the Tigers got within four points in
the second quarter before falling behind 43- 32 at halftime.
With guard Anna Wilson leading the team, Stanford was ahead 60- 41 midway through the third quarter.
The Cardinal had to play the game in Stockon because of Santa Clara County’s ban last month on contact sports in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.
VanDerveer has the fifthhighest winning percentage (.813) among Division I women’s basketball coaches all-time.
She probably would have passed Summitt earlier except for the fact VanDerveer spent a year coaching the U.S. women’s team to a gold medal at the Atlanta Games in 1996. Assistants Amy Tucker and Marianne Stanley led Stanford to a 29-3 record and Final Four appearance in her absence.
VanDerveer, a four-time national coach of the year, does not like talking about coaching milestones.
“I hate losing more than I enjoying winning,” she said three years ago. “I don’t see losing as a negative thing. I see it as a way to grow and get better. But when it happens at the end of the year it is really painful.”
Va n D er ve er a r r ive d at Stanford in 1985 and within two seasons led the Cardinal to the Sweet 16 with a 27-5 record. Her first season at Stanford was the only time she posted a losing record (13-15).
T he program soared when Va nDer veer got guard Jennifer Azzi from Tennessee to come to the Bay Area in 1986.
Azzi, a college player of the year, led Stanford to its first of two NCAA championships in 1990. VanDerveer won again in 1992 but Stanford has not earned another title since despite 10 more trips to the Final Four.
VanDerveer has coached
some of the game’s best players, starting with Azzi. But the long list also includes Katy Steding, Kate Starbird, Candice Wiggins, the Ogwuimke sisters, Nneka and Chiney, Jayne Appel, Nicole Powell and Sonja Henning.
VanDerveer grew up in upstate New York playing basketball in her neighborhood in the pre-Title IX era. She once said she tried out for cheerleading just to be close to the court. When VanDerveer didn’t make the cheer squad, she became the school mascot but said she got fired for spending more time watching the games than doing her job.
VanDerveer played at Indiana when women’s college teams had nine-game schedules. She became a coach eventually taking over the program at Idaho in 1978 before leading Ohio State to four Big Ten championships.
“I think about basketball 24/7,” VanDerveer said in 2011. “I wake up thinking about it.”