Tara VanDerveer - The Lover
BASKETBALL - HEAD COACH - STANFORD
ARCHETYPE: THE LOVER
Day 37/135
Athletic Accomplishments
Confetti rained down on the Stanford women’s basketball team last Sunday night as they won the NCAA Tournament for the third time under the winningest coach in women’s basketball history, Tara VanDerveer.
Want to hear something insane? Tara VanDerveer never even played high school basketball. It’s not that she got cut, and it surely wasn’t for lack of effort or interest. It was because Title IX hadn’t passed, so her school didn’t offer girls sports. But VanDerveer loved basketball so much that she showed up anyway, dressing as the team mascot so she could be close to it. Can you even imagine?
VanDerveer was determined to play in college, starting out at Albany, where she dominated as a freshman. As a sophomore, she transferred to Indiana to for more of a challenge. Impressive as her Final Four appearance was, her playing days are hardly the highlight of VanDerveer’s illustrious basketball career.
With a 1,125–255 record (.815), VanDerveer is an undeniable winner. She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Though she rose to prominence coaching Ohio State, she’s been the head coach at Stanford since 1985—36 years at the helm of one of the perennial powerhouses in the sport.
Now, I hope you’re not printing this out because by the time we’re done with VanDerveer’s accolades, you’re going to run out of ink. Order a new cartridge now.
She has led her teams to the highest heights, racking up titles like it’s light work, including:
1 Gold Medal (1996 Olympics)
3x NCAA Division I Tournament Champion (1990, 1992, 2021)
25x Pac-12 Conference Champion
13x Pac-12 Conference Tournament Champion
4x Big Ten Conference Champion
Individually, VanDerveer has also won tons of coaching awards, including:
5x National Coach of the Year
10x Pac-12 Coach of the Year
2x Big Ten Coach of the Year
John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award (2014)
And she ain’t done yet.
Character Archetype: The Lover
Tara VanDerveer, head coach for your national champion Stanford Cardinal, never even played high school basketball. And it wasn’t for lack of effort. It was because Title IX hadn’t even passed. But she loved basketball so much that she showed up anyway, dressing as the team mascot so she could be close to it.
She was determined to play in college, starting at Albany before transferring to Indiana, where she studied the game under her own coach, Bea Gorton, and legendary men’s coach, Bobby Knight.
First comes love, then comes coaching.
VanDerveer started coaching her sister’s team, then at local schools while living with her parents. When VanDerveer started coaching at the collegiate level, she was paid so little that she lived on food stamps. She fought and scrapped for everything for her teams — practice time, a livable salary, respect, recruits. Nothing came easily, except her unconditional love of the game.
In a recent ESPN article, VanDerveer shared a story that really illustrates the lack of respect or even common courtesy for girls and women in basketball.
“There was one time when some radio guy said, ‘Your game's before the men's game, and if your game goes into overtime, we've got to start the men's game at 7:30, so we'll just have to have a sudden-death basket.’ And I said, ‘If anyone comes on the court, there will be sudden death. But I will be killing them.’”
Today, VanDerveer still fights for lady hoopers. Still fights for respect. Still loves the game with the same heart and intensity as she ever did. But now, as the winningest coach in women’s college basketball history and a two-time national champion, it’s pretty obvious basketball loves her back.