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NewsvineTara VanDerveer will have more time to break coaching records and find herself on the winning side with the Cardinal, as the women’s basketball head coach signed a six-year contract extension yesterday. Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby announced that VanDerveer’s residency on the Farm will last through at least the 2011-2012 season.
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“Tara VanDerveer has established herself as one of the elite coaches in women’s basketball and we are extremely proud to have her lead the Stanford basketball program into the future,” Bowlsby said in a press release.
VanDerveer, last year’s Pac-10 Coach of the Year, has led Stanford to two NCAA championships, five Final Four appearances, 14 Pac-10 titles and 18 consecutive NCAA appearances in her 21 years at the helm of the women’s team.
Last year, VanDerveer led the Cardinal to its third Elite Eight appearance in a row, with a 26-8 overall record. In a win against Oregon State last February, VanDerveer reached the 650-win mark of her Stanford career, and she now holds the fourth-highest career winning percentage among active Division I women’s basketball coaches.
“I’ve had such a great time here, and I’m excited about the team and its future,” VanDerveer said. “I love living out here. Stanford is a fabulous university to represent, and I feel that it’s a good fit for me with such high academic standards and top athletics — it’s excellent in both areas.”
This year, the Cardinal women are ranked No. 4 nationally in preseason polls by Street & Smith’s College Basketball Yearbook and Athlon Sports. Lindy’s poll ranked the Cardinal No. 3 in the nation.
As for personal honors, VanDerveer was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. in April 2002. She was also named National Coach of the Year three consecutive times from 1987 to 1990.
With the respect and recognition of her players, colleagues and the public, VanDerveer has the opportunity to pursue endeavors outside Stanford, but she continues to be comfortable with her current tenure as head coach.
“You ask yourself if there are the some places you should be instead, or other things you should be doing, but I was fortunate enough to go on sabbatical for a year and coach the women’s Olympic team,” VanDerveer said. “It’s good to try different things, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to go off for a year and then come back to Stanford.”
VanDerveer’s turn as head coach of the 1996 Olympic women’s basketball team yielded a gold medal. However, VanDerveer isn’t so much focused on records and tangible signs of accomplishment as she is the improvement of herself and her players.
“It’s a big pleasure of mine to develop players and help them reach their potential,” she said. “It’s understandable that you always want to improve, and I’m always trying to refine what I do. I find a sense of urgency in taking teams as far as they can go.”
Coming to Stanford in 1985 after two seasons (1978-1980) as head coach at the University of Idaho and five seasons (1980-1985) at Ohio State, VanDerveer helped build Stanford women’s basketball as its third coach in history. Now heading one of the best programs in the nation, VanDerveer still finds inspiration to pursue even more success in women’s basketball.
“What I’ve found is that the hardest part is staying on top, not getting to the top,” she said. “I came here and helped build this program, but now it’s all about maintaining it.”
Bowlsby, whom VanDerveer is excited to work with, agreed that she has been an exemplary leader in University athletics.
“In her 20 years at Stanford, Tara’s teams have continually represented excellence both on and off the court, and her record of success speaks for itself,” he said in a press release. “She is recognized on a national and international level as one of the sport’s premier coaches and we are fortunate to have a coach of Tara’s caliber lead our women’s basketball program.”
Grateful for the contributions of her supporting staff, which VanDerveer said the contract extension reflects well for, she now has her focus set on the Cardinal’s quickly approaching season start.
“I’m glad we came to this agreement now; it had great timeliness as we head into what should be an exciting season,” VanDerveer said.
VanDerveer begins her 21st season with the first of two Cardinal exhibition games Nov. 2 against Chico State. The regular-season opener follows one week later when Stanford hosts Loyola Marymount in the opening round of the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).