Terrible , i find it heart broken that the iowa women head coach announce his resignation just to sign contracts with another team.

Terrible , i find it heart broken that the iowa women head coach announce his resignation just to sign contracts with another team.

Jose Alto, California Coach Tara VanDerveer of Stanford women’s basketball has considered retiring multiple times, but she never felt quite ready to leave the position for which she has been associated for the better part of the last 40 years.

Yet there VanDerveer sat at Stanford’s Arrillaga Family Sports Center on Wednesday afternoon, spending about 45 minutes answering questions, sharing anecdotes, and narrating the highs and lows of a legendary career in which she became the NCAA’s winningest basketball coach with 1,216 wins at Stanford, Ohio State, and Idaho, three national championships, and 14 Final Fours.

Tuesday night, Stanford announced VanDerveer’s retirement, stating that she will continue to be involved with the university in an advisory capacity and that Kate Paye, a former player and longtime assistant, was negotiating a replacement. On May 8, which will be precisely 39 years after VanDerveer was hired as the Cardinals’ coach, her retirement will become official.

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VanDerveer, the most successful NCAA basketball coach, retires after 12 years.Philippou, Alex

With her fingerprint all on the game, Tara VanDerveer retires.David Voepel

Significant anniversaries in Tara VanDerveer’s 45-year college coaching careerWatch ESPN
VanDerveer stated, “I’ve probably retired at least twenty times in my head after every year I really consider it. “I just sensed that I was prepared. Never honestly did I imagine that I would be. Love it, although I thought I might pass out on the bench. It sort of fit together by itself.”

After a season when VanDerveer didn’t necessarily know it would be her last but checked a lot of boxes if it was, especially with the Pac-12’s decline, everything fell into place.

Though Stanford is set to join the Atlantic Coast Conference next year, a move that would entail a demanding travel schedule, VanDerveer stressed that this had no bearing on her decision to leave the Pac-12.

“I want to just say that going into the ACC has nothing to do with it,” VanDerveer said. “I believe it will be a great, great league, so really, that was a motivator to want to stay and play that competition.”

The 2023–24 Cardinal’s slogan was basically “best year ever,” and VanDerveer was driven to make it just that.

Along the way, she broke Mike Krzyzewski’s NCAA record of 1,202 wins on January 21 and, more significantly, she led a team that finished the season in the top 10 before losing in the Sweet 16.

VanDerveer allowed herself to consider that if it was her last game on the sidelines in Palo Alto, it was a great way to go out as she and her team left Maples Pavilion court after a round of 32 overtime triumph against Iowa State.

Several of her teammates said that VanDerveer had developed the practice of appreciating every second of the season. It was a hint, maybe, that retirement was on the horizon, but nobody was positive.

VanDerveer stated she took her time evaluating her situation and whether she wanted to play after Stanford’s 77-67 loss to NC State in the Sweet 16. VanDerveer pondered over how much effort and commitment it takes to be successful in her career at that time of introspection.

The feelings echoed those of ten years previously, when VanDerveer claimed she was the closest to giving up as she battled fatigue. At a meal with ardent Stanford fan John Arrillaga, VanDerveer promised to return, but only if she could take the summer off. Athletics director Bernard Muir gave his approval.

But this time, VanDerveer considered playing bridge with her mother, Rita, who is 97 years old, and taking advantage of the chance to go sailing and water skiing without having to worry about recruiting or any of the numerous other unending duties of coaching.

In the end, VanDerveer determined she could no longer give her her all. Tuesday night, she called her mother before word of her retirement was announced to the school.

A heartbreaking moment, senior guard Hannah Jump said. “I am overjoyed for her and all that she has achieved as well as the lives and relationships she has somehow touched here. Sadness is there as well. She made such an impression on our life overall and on our sport in particular.”

While Paye hasn’t been formally named VanDerveer’s replacement by Stanford yet, everyone is hoping it will happen soon. From 1991 to 1995, Paye played for VanDerveer. She has worked for Stanford for the past 17 seasons, during which time she became the clear frontrunner to take over as head coach.

Paye has paid her dues, declining other head-coaching possibilities to wait her turn in Palo Alto, and VanDerveer referred to her as her “security blanket” on Wednesday. It is getting close now, and Paye admitted on Wednesday the difficulty of replacing a legend.

Paye added, “Tara is one of one,” That is very easy to understand. It was impossible to ever reproduce or replace her.”

Though the program will undergo a lot of change in the upcoming year, Paye said she expects to keep the coaching staff because she wants to “lean into continuity.”

And VanDerveer won’t be too far away as Paye and the Stanford program carve out a new course. Even though VanDerveer is excited to pursue the activities that her basketball career has prevented her from doing, she believes she has more to offer the athletic department, whether it be as an ambassador or as an advisor who mentors other coaches.

“I want to be involved,” VanDerveer declared. It will be in balance, though. When one is a coach… You’re on around-the-clock, and I’m prepared for maybe just seven, not twenty-four.”