VanDerveer, winningest NCAA hoops coach, retires

Tara VanDerveer, the NCAA’s winningest basketball coach with 1,216 victories across 45 years, is retiring, Stanford announced Tuesday evening.

Negotiations are underway for Kate Paye, a former player under VanDerveer and a longtime member of her staff, to become her successor, the school added.

VanDerveer, 70, 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. The Naismith and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer previously coached at Idaho (1978 to 1980) and Ohio State (1980 to 1985).

“Basketball is the greatest group project there is and I am so incredibly thankful for every person who has supported me and our teams throughout my coaching career,” VanDerveer said in a statement. “I’ve been spoiled to coach the best and brightest at one of the world’s foremost institutions for nearly four decades. Coupled with my time at Ohio State and Idaho, and as head coach of the United States National Team, it has been an unforgettable ride. The joy for me was in the journey of each season, seeing a group of young women work hard for each other and form an unbreakable bond. Winning was a byproduct.

“I’ve loved the game of basketball since I was a little girl, and it has given me so much throughout my life. I hope I’ve been able to give at least a little bit back.”

VanDerveer, who finishes with an all-time record of 1,216-271 (81.8%), will continue to work with Stanford and the athletic department in an advisory capacity, the school said.

“Tara’s name is synonymous with the sport and women’s basketball would not be what it is today without her pioneering work,” Stanford athletics director Bernard Muir said in a statement. “She has been devoted to this campus for 40 years and a servant to all the student-athletes who have come through her program. Tara built one of the sport’s iconic program’s almost immediately upon her arrival at Stanford, and then maintained that standard for nearly four decades.

“An energetic and positive teacher, a Hall of Famer, a trusted friend and mentor, Tara’s impact is simply unmatched, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to characterize her as one of the most influential people to ever be associated with this university. We will look forward to finding the appropriate ways to honor her deep impact and legacy here at Stanford.”

VanDerveer passed retired Duke and Army coach Mike Krzyzewski’s NCAA record of 1,202 wins Jan. 21, earning her 1,203rd career victory with a 65-56 decision at home against Oregon State. 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 — a Massachusetts native who grew up in New York — may be known for establishing a West Coast stronghold in California, but her 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).

“Obviously, it’s a monumental day in women’s basketball, and in basketball in general,” Auriemma said in a statement. “When you’ve coached for this extended period of time and you’ve accomplished what Tara’s accomplished, it has an incredible effect on the basketball community. The number of wins, the national championships, the Hall of Fame. She’s had an incredible career and she’s left a great impact on the sport. It’s been exciting to compete against her all these years. Congratulations to Tara, and I’m sure she’ll enjoy the next phase of her life.”

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 — the program’s first of an active streak of seven gold medals and counting — 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. 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 as well as 15 of its 23 tournament crowns. The standard on and off the court that VanDerveer set at Stanford, other Pac-12 coaches have long said, elevated the entire conference from one that was mostly an afterthought nationally into one of the premier women’s basketball leagues in the country.

The Pac-12 boasted five teams in the Sweet 16 this past tournament, the product of a collective effort to build the conference that’s been spearheaded by its leader in VanDerveer.

“Tara is a a legend on a global level, but she is also so impactful for me on a personal level,” longtime UCLA coach Cori Close told ESPN. “I was a camper at her camps, I played against her teams in college and worked her camps and now I have coached against her and have been the beneficiary of her mentorship. She is remarkable in her performance, her mentorship and her example. Our game will be indebted to her for a very long time. I wish her nothing but the best. She sure has earned this retirement.”

Prior to the beginning of the final Pac-12 season, VanDerveer had told ESPN she was “thrilled” the school found a new home in the ACC amid such difficult circumstances.

“I think it’s going to a fabulous conference for women’s basketball,” VanDerveer told ESPN in October. “We’re really thankful the ACC wanted Stanford. And the biggest thing for us is to continue to be able to compete on the highest level, and I want to keep coaching players who want that combination of great academics and great basketball. We’ve recruited a lot of kids from the East Coast, so our recruiting is going to be fine.”

VanDerveer has produced successful WNBA players (such as former No. 1 picks Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike, Jennifer Azzi and Candice Wiggins) for decades, sending 30 in all to the WNBA draft since the league was founded — the second most by a head coach. 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.

“She’s serious about the game, treats it with all the reverence it deserves as a platform that empowers players beyond our wildest dreams … But doesn’t take herself too seriously,” Chiney told ESPN. “Tara will laugh, will dance, will always celebrate the team ahead of herself.”

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.

“I love Tara. She’s amazing. We’ve connected quite a bit — she’s come to our practices, I’ve seen her down on campus,” said Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr when told of VanDerveer’s retirement. “I have so much respect and admiration for her. And my initial reaction is I’m thrilled for her. She can go water ski. She loves the water.”

Auriemma, who has coached his entire career at UConn since 1985, will enter the 2023-24 campaign with 1,213 victories, three behind VanDerveer’s record mark.

Paye, who played for VanDerveer from 1991 to 1995, has spent the last 17 years on VanDerveer’s staff, including eight as associate head coach.