28 Facts About Tara VanDerveer

Tara Ann VanDerveer was born on June 26,1953 and is an American former basketball coach who was the head women's basketball coach at Stanford University from 1985 until her retirement in 2024.

Tara VanDerveer stepped away from the Stanford program for a year to coach the US women's national team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games.

Tara VanDerveer was voted Naismith National Coach of the Year in 1990,2011, and 2021 and was voted Pac-12 Coach of the Year 18 times.

Tara VanDerveer was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Tara VanDerveer was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, a part of Greater Boston, but grew up in the small community of West Hill, near Schenectady, New York.

Tara VanDerveer's family moved to Niagara Falls in her sophomore year of high school.

Tara VanDerveer ended up earning a place in the Buffalo Seminary's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Tara VanDerveer decided she needed a bigger challenge so she talked some of her friends into attending the AIAW National Championship, the precursor to the NCAA tournament.

At the event, Tara VanDerveer watched many teams, took notes, and decided where she wanted to go.

Tara VanDerveer chose Indiana where she transferred and spent three years, making the Dean's List each of the three years.

The Indiana women's coach, Bea Gorton, patterned her style of play and practices after Knight, and it was the observation of the style of play at the AIAW event that persuaded Tara VanDerveer to choose Indiana.

Tara VanDerveer enrolled in Knight's basketball coaching classes at IU and regularly observed his team's practices.

Tara VanDerveer carried what she learned from Knight to her practices at Stanford.

Tara VanDerveer's sister was five years younger, and by the time Marie reached high school, the school had basketball teams for girls.

Tara VanDerveer received only two responses, one of which was for Ohio State, where the athletic director had remembered her from Indiana.

Tara VanDerveer was hired as an assistant coach of the varsity team and the head coach of the JV squad.

Tara VanDerveer wanted to finish her master's degree, so accepted a paid position at Ohio State, at a salary less than a quarter of the Old Dominion offer.

Tara VanDerveer's tenure included a record-breaking game against Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in February 1985 attended by 22,157, then the largest crowd to have attended a women's basketball game.

Tara VanDerveer later recounted that her friends told her going to Stanford was a bad move, because Stanford was too "brainy" to be good in sports.

Tara VanDerveer said, 'You'll be unemployed and coming home to live with us in three months'.

Tara VanDerveer's first year with Stanford was a step backward for the coach.

Tara VanDerveer's team reached the 1988 Sweet Sixteen, and the program earned an invitation to the tournament in every subsequent year under her leadership.

On December 14,2020, Tara VanDerveer tied the record for coaching wins and then surpassed existing women's game wins record when Stanford beat Pacific on December 16,2020.

The USA Basketball organization, with input from Tara VanDerveer, decided to depart from the usual strategy of forming a team a few weeks before the event, which severely limited the practice time.

Tara VanDerveer was chosen as head coach, but was expected to take a one-year sabbatical from her head coaching position at Stanford.

Tara VanDerveer had previously worked with USA Basketball teams in 1986 and 1990, and served as the head coach of the team representing the US at the 1991 World University Games.

Tara VanDerveer continued as the coach of the National team at the 1994 World Championships in Sydney, where the USA team won the bronze medal.

Tara VanDerveer has a cabin on a private lake in Minnesota where she spends much of the offseason waterskiing.