Stanford Legend Tara VanDerveer Retires: 1,216 Victory and a Lasting Impact

Stanford Announced Tara VanDerveer’ Retirement

Stanford has announced that Tara VanDerveer, the NCAA’s winningest basketball coach with 1,216 victories across 45 years, is retiring. The 70-year-old has been one of the most illustrious coaches in the sport, winning three national championships (1990, 1992, and 2021) in her 38 seasons at Stanford and guiding them to 14 Final Fours. VanDerveer previously coached at Idaho (1978 to 1980) and Ohio State (1980 to 1985). VanDerveer passed retired Duke and Army coach Mike Krzyzewski’s NCAA record of 1,202 wins on January 21, earning her 1,203rd career victory with a 65-56 decision at home against Oregon State.

NCAA tournament at Maples Pavilion

Her final win came in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Maples Pavilion as her Cardinal defeated Iowa State. Two-seed Stanford went on to lose in the Portland 4 regional semifinal to eventual Final Four team NC State. VanDerveer’s impact and excellence were felt nationally and beyond. She has guided Stanford to the NCAA tournament each season since 1988, a streak of 36 consecutive appearances that’s second only to Tennessee. She joins UConn’s Geno Auriemma (136) and Tennessee’s Pat Summitt (112) in amassing at least 100 NCAA tournament wins, while compiling 28 Sweet 16 and 21 Elite Eight berths.

Her 14 Final Four appearances are third most behind Auriemma (23) and Summitt (18), and she is one of five coaches with at least three national titles (alongside Auriemma, Summitt, Baylor/LSU’s Kim Mulkey, and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley). VanDerveer stepped away from Stanford during the 1995-96 campaign in preparation for the 1996 Olympic Games, where she served as the head coach of the U.S. national team. The team’s undefeated run in Atlanta is considered a massive launching off point for the establishment of the WNBA in 1997. It’s perhaps fitting that VanDerveer will move on from coaching upon the disintegration of the Pac-12 conference she helped lift to such incredible heights.

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VanDerveer set at Stanford

The past two years of conference realignment will come to a head this summer when 10 Pac-12 schools officially leave for the Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC, the latter of which is where Stanford is headed next. For decades, Stanford was practically synonymous with Pac-12 women’s basketball, dominating the conference with 27 conference regular-season titles since 1989 and 15 of its 23 tournament crowns. The standard on and off the court that VanDerveer set at Stanford elevated the entire conference from one that was mostly an afterthought nationally into one of the premier women’s basketball leagues in the country.

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Auriemma leads the Campaign with three Victories behind VanDerveer’s Record

VanDerveer has produced successful WNBA players for decades, sending 30 in all to the WNBA draft since the league was founded. Graduating senior Cameron Brink, recently named Pac-12 Player of the Year, is expected to be a lottery pick in next week’s draft as well. VanDerveer’s last official day at Stanford will be May 8, the 39th anniversary of when she was hired, the school said. A news conference will be held Wednesday on campus. Auriemma, a UConn coach since 1985, leads the 2023-24 campaign with 1,213 victories, three behind VanDerveer’s record. Paye, who played for VanDerveer from 1991 to 1995, has spent 17 years on VanDerveer’s staff.