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In a storied career, Tara VanDerveer has established herself as one of the top coaches in the history of collegiate and international women’s basketball, and been inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (2011) and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (2002).

An ambassador for both Stanford University and the sport of college basketball, VanDerveer has enjoyed an unprecedented level of success through an energetic and positive approach to the game. A four-time national coach of the year (1988, 1989, 1990, 2011) and 14-time Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year, VanDerveer, who prior to coming to Stanford served as head coach for a combined seven seasons at Idaho (1978-80) and Ohio State (1980-85), has accumulated an impressive 980-225 (.813) record in her 37 years as a collegiate head coach and an 828-174 (.826) record over 30 seasons at Stanford.

In November 2013, VanDerveer became just the fifth college women’s basketball coach to win 900 career games and is now 20 victories away from joining Pat Summitt as the only NCAA women’s basketball coaches with 1,000 career wins. In March 2015 she won her 800th game at Stanford, becoming the 10th college basketball coach – men’s or women’s – with that many victories at a single Division I school.

VanDerveer has led her Stanford teams to two NCAA Championships (1990, 1992), 11 NCAA Final Four appearances, 22 Pac-12 regular-season titles, 11 Pac-12 Tournament crowns and 28 trips to the NCAA Tournament. She also guided Idaho to one AIAW Tournament appearance and Ohio State to a pair of NCAA Tournaments while twice being named Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Her teams have won 20 or more games 31 times, including each of the last 15 seasons. VanDerveer built Stanford into a national power almost immediately upon arrival and has maintained an unparalleled level of success for three decades.  On Feb. 26, the Cardinal won its 1,000^th game in program history, becoming the seventh Division I institution to reach the milestone, and did so in fewer games than all but two other schools. VanDerveer has accounted for 828 of Stanford’s 1,004 total victories since its first varsity season in 1975.

Perhaps one of VanDerveer’s most notable attributes is her ability to connect with student-athletes and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of college athletics. Considered one of the nation’s premier recruiters, VanDerveer and her staff routinely bring top classes to The Farm. The Stanford staff brought in the likes of Jennifer Azzi and Kate Starbird, both of whom won women’s basketball’s highest individual honor - the James Naismith National Player of the Year Award (Azzi 1990; Starbird 1997) - as well as Candice Wiggins, who in 2008 joined Azzi (1990) as Stanford’s second recipient of the State Farm/WBCA Wade Trophy Player of the Year Award.

First-team All-Americans that have flourished under VanDerveer’s guidance include Chiney Ogwumike (2012, 2013, 2014), Nnemkadi Ogwumike (2010, 2011, 2012), Jeanette Pohlen (2011), Jayne Appel (2009, 2010), Wiggins (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008), the program’s only four-time All-American to date,  Nicole Powell (2002, 2003, 2004), Kristin Folkl (1998), Starbird (1996, 1997), Val Whiting (1992, 1993), Sonja Henning (1991) and Azzi (1989, 1990).

Overall, VanDerveer has guided her players to two Wade Trophy Player of the Year honors, two Naismith Player of the Year honors, 30 first-team All-America honors (WBCA and Associated Press), 18 Pac-12 Player of the Year awards, 67 first team All-Pac-12 selections and nearly 40 appointments to USA Basketball teams.

Many of those players have gone on to have success at the professional level. Stanford has had 27 players play in a regular-season WNBA game since the league's inception in 1997. The program boasts 11 first-round draft picks and has had six players win a total of seven WNBA titles.

In 1995-96 VanDerveer served as head coach of the USA Basketball National Team, leading the team to a 52-0 exhibition record and then to the Olympic gold medal with a perfect 8-0 run at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

VanDerveer is a 1975 graduate of Indiana University, where she was a dean's list scholar for three years and a sociology major. While at Indiana, VanDerveer held one of the starting guard positions for three years on the women's basketball team. For her efforts at Indiana and her accomplishments after leaving the Hoosiers, VanDerveer was inducted into the Indiana University Hall of Fame in 1995.

An avid piano player in her spare time, VanDerveer was born June 26, 1953. A Boston native who grew up in upstate New York, she is also a published author. Her book Shooting From The Outside, which chronicled her 1996 Olympic and National Team experience, was released in September 1997.