A Legendary Farewell: Tara VanDerveer Bids Adieu to Basketball After 45 Extraordinary Years

The Hall of Fame coach did what? She paid attention. She persisted in it. She also relished a much-needed vacation, spending July and August sailing and water skiing without basketball.

VanDerveer was so motivated by it to keep going that she never imagined the day coming when she would be truly ready to give up the demanding daily grind of recruiting, film analysis, and strategy.

“I never really thought I would be,” she said Wednesday, when the all-time winningest basketball coach discussed her decision to retire following an announcement by the school Tuesday night. “I thought maybe I would keel over on the bench because I love it, I love it, I love it.”

VanDerveer will continue to be involved in some way at the age of 70. Her top assistant coach and former player, Kate Paye, is set to take over the program. VanDerveer has 1,216 career victories in spells at Idaho, Ohio State, and Stanford, totaling 45 years, with the last 38 on The Farm. After her contract is finalized, Paye is anticipated to have an introduction news conference the following week.

VanDerveer intends “to start studying so I am better” in order to be more competitive. She and her 96-year-old mother, Rita, play bridge every day on the computer.

“I think just wanting to do things you want to do in your life and realizing this is not a dress rehearsal, this is your real life,” VanDerveer shared of her thought process while making the decision. “… I don’t feel like I want to become a hermit or drop off. Coaching is hard work, but it is incredibly rewarding.

“There is no better job. I’ve lived just a charmed life and I am so fortunate.”

She also stated unequivocally that she is staying put despite the Pac-12 Conference’s dissolution and Stanford’s transfer to the ACC. VanDerveer also acknowledged the fans, saying she was excited to watch what will always be her Stanford team with them when they gathered next season.

She took time to express her gratitude to everyone, including her parents (her father, Dunbar, did not see his daughter as a successful coach), coaches nationwide, Pac-12 coaches, former players like Jennifer Azzi, who was willing to take a chance on the school across the country when she could have stayed home and played for Tennessee. She was emotional and thoughtful about all of her talented teams and dynamite players over the decades.

In 1990, Azzi played a key role in helping the Cardinals win their first of three NCAA titles. VanDerveer’s teams again triumphed in 1992 and 2021.

However, VanDerveer made care to highlight a number of other memorable events from seasons that did not have her student-athletes sticking together and supporting one another on the field.

“I have so many stories of how the people I have coached have motivated me, influenced and inspired me,” she said. “I have learned so much from each player. I’m eternally grateful for having them in my life. I am incredibly proud of the Stanford sisterhood. … In tough games, the sisterhood is a key to victory.”

“It is so thrilling to see the support for women’s basketball,” she said, “we’re just scratching the surface.”

And that instance ten years prior when she considered making it a career? According to VanDerveer, she had genuinely considered it roughly twenty times since coming to Stanford in 1985.

Rather, it is the place where she forged enduring friendships. VanDerveer continued to adjust as she went along, loving “the trip,” as she would always refer to it, and continuing to be “a lifelong learner” who enjoyed seeing and even imitating the success of others.

And when it came to how she treated people around her, she never forgot this:

“I wanted to be a coach that I would want to play for,” she said. “Someone who works very hard to give our team the best chance of being successful, along with a person who demonstrates empathy and compassion through the game of basketball.”

Without question, she carried out those actions with all of her heart.