Tara Ann VanDerveer is an American basketball coach. She has been the head women’s basketball coach at Stanford University since 1985. She led the Stanford Cardinal to two NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Championships: in 1990 and 1992. She stepped away from the Stanford program for a year to serve as the U.S. national team head coach at the 1996 Olympic Games.
About Tara VanDerveer in brief
Tara Ann VanDerveer is an American basketball coach. She has been the head women’s basketball coach at Stanford University since 1985. She led the Stanford Cardinal to two NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Championships: in 1990 and 1992. She stepped away from the Stanford program for a year to serve as the U.S. national team head coach at the 1996 Olympic Games. She is the 1990 Naismith National Coach of the Year and a ten-time Pac-12 Coach ofThe Year. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. On December 16, 2020 she passed Pat Summitt for most wins in women’s college basketball history. She still holds the Chautauqua Boys and Girls Club record for the longest Softball throw in 1967. She played a number of sports including basketball, in rec leagues and pickup. When she was younger, she played with both boys and girls. As she entered her high school years, the girls dropped out for other interests, so she was more apt to play with boys. Her father wasn’t completely supportive of her basketball interest, calling her in from the neighbor’s basketball hoop, telling her, \”Basketball won’t take you anywhere. Come in and do your algebra. \” Tara was equally certain that algebra wasn’t going to take her anywhere. As one of five children, it wasn’t financially possible for her to attend Mount Holyoke. She chose Indiana where she spent three years, making the Dean’s List each of the three years.
The Indiana women’s coach, Bea Gorton, may have been an indirect effect on VanDerveser’s choice of school. While Bobby Knight was not a direct influence on her choice, he may have influenced her style of play after watching her play and play it after it was played at Indiana College. She won the AIAW National Championship in 1973, losing in the semi-finals to Queens College. Although naturally a guard, she jumped center, and led the team in many categories, despite being the freshman on the team. Although she learned to play, she did not enjoy the experience, and gave up the flute in ninth grade. She ended up earning a place in the Buffalo Seminary’s Athletic Hall Of Fame. She decided where she wanted to go, and decided on the University of California, Los Angeles, where she watched many teams, and took notes on them. She also played for the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Francisco 49ers, winning the Super Bowl in 1988. She went on to coach the University at Albany where her father had studied for his doctorate. Her first choice was Mount. Holyoke, but as one of four children, she chose Albany where she chose. Mount Holyokes. She coached the men’s team at Albany for three years and helped the team reach the Final Four of the AiaW championship in 1973. The team wasn’t a great team, but she knew the coach, which helped with the decision.
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This page is based on the article Tara VanDerveer published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 19, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
