Legendary coach Tara Vanderveer announces her retirement

Longtime Sanford women’s basketball coach Tara Vanderveer announced her retirement Tuesday.

Accomplishments

With such an accomplished person where do you even start? Why not begin with the fact Vanderveer was inducted into the Naismith’s Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Beside the pro’s Vanderveer has been a successful coach at every level of basketball. Despite only coaching team USA’s women’s team for one year, 1995-96, Vanderveer was able to lead them to a perfect 52-0 record and an 8-0 run to win Olympic gold in 1996.

She is the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history. With over 1,000 wins and a career winning percentage of (.818) her dominance was felt for decades. On top of all of this she was able to secure wins when it mattered most. Leading Stanford to three national championships (1990,1992,2021).

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Vanderveer’s Impact

As insane as Vanderveer’s resume is it can be argued her accomplishments off the court were just as impactful. NBA champion coach Steve Kerr gave Vanderveer high praise when hearing about her retirement. NCAA Vice President of Women’s Basketball Lynn Holzman congratulated Vanderveer.

Many players and Vanderveer assistants have gone on to become collegiate head coaches. She boasts a strong coaching tree as some are still head coaches. Vanderveer did a good job putting her players into the league. As Stanford has produced 13 first-round picks, a WNBA regular season MVP in Nneka Ogwumike and seven different WNBA players who have won a league championship.

To see so many prominent figures in the basketball world congratulate Vanderveer speaks volumes. She is able to retire while still being on top of her game.

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