College Basketball Coach
Western New York native Tara VanDerveer began her coaching career for the Ohio State women’s basketball team. In five seasons, the Buckeyes won four Big-ten championships, compiled four straight 20-win seasons and made two post-season appearances. At Ohio State, VanDerveer was twice named Big Ten coach of the year (1983-84 and 1984-85).
For the past 12 years, VanDerveer has guided the Stanford Cardinal to a 306-70 (.814) overall record and 169-22 (.885) Pac-10 mark. During her tenure, Stanford made five Final Four appearances and won two NCAA titles (1989-90 and 1991-92).
Additionally, her teams have reached the Final Eight on seven occasions. Four times, VanDerveer-coached squads have posted 30-win or better seasons (1989-90, 1991-92, 1994-95, 1996-97), while in post season play, VanDerveer’s teams have gone 32-9 (,780) since the 1987-88 season.
Three times, VanDerveer has collected National Coach-of-the-Year (1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90) honors, and she has been named Pac-10 Coach of the year on four occasions (1988-89, 1989-90, 1994-95, 1996-97). VanDerveer also earned Northern California Women’s Intercollegiate Coach-of-the-Year honors five times in six years (1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1991-92, 1992-93). VanDerveer was inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in October, 1998 and coached the Gold Medal winning U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball team in 1996.