You never know who has family ties to the Boulder community.
I recently talked with Tara VanDerveer, longtime coach of one of the nation’s greatest college women’s basketball programs and the winningest coach in all of collegiate sports basketball history. She will retire on May 8 — the same date she began coaching at Stanford University 38 years ago to the day.
Her mother Rita, who’s almost 98 years old, has lived in Boulder for over 27 years. She moved from Chautauqua, New York, the home of the famous Chautauqua Institution founded in 1874. Her mother was initially attracted to Boulder for her love of our own Chautauqua Park, living there at one time.
Rita imbued positive traits in her children, and taught them, “Follow your dreams, don’t shortchange yourself, and go for it.”
Tara is encouraged to see that women’s sports have become a growth industry in such sports as gymnastics, soccer, softball, volleyball, hockey and basketball, grabbing a share of the attention from the men.
In fact, just this week, the CHSAA (Colorado High School Athletics Association) surprised everyone and voted to add girls’ flag football to the state’s list of sports. Nationally, 10 states have sanctioned the sport. Colorado’s pilot program started with 25 teams in 2022 and has grown to about 1,300 players across 52 schools.
“When Cheryl Miller of University of Southern California, one of the top women’s college players of all time played, the national women’s basketball championship game drew 12 million television viewers,” VanDerveer said. “But they (meaning men in charge of the NCAA) didn’t build upon it,” missing an opportunity to strongly promote TV viewership, and the women’s game didn’t take off “because the NCAA held it back,” she said. “I think the media was part of it.”
Enter University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who was the latest spark for finally putting women’s sports on the map. She ended her college career with 3,951 points — more than any men’s or women’s player ever.
Still, men rule the world of sports, but that may be slowly eroding because men started with such a great head start in our culture.
“We already have some statistics on what male college athletes will earn from name, image and likeness (NIL) and how much more it is than the women’s figures,” said VanDerveer. It has been projected that 99% of all (NIL) money goes to men.
To date, hundreds of players have gone through the transfer portal that allows athletes to transfer any time they want to and immediately be allowed to play. Coaches and players can also tamper with other schools’ athletes both during and after the season.
This is one of the major reasons why Nick Saban, former head football coach of the University of Alabama, who won seven national titles, retired this past year. VanDerveer believes “there are no guard rails.” She said, “We want good athletes but as coaches, we are turning into business people. Parents are brokers. It’s not a healthy situation and everybody’s mental health is suffering.”
It is all about “now” in college sports.
VanDerveer’s accomplishments are very impressive:
VanDerveer’s teams won three NCAA women’s hoops titles (1990, 1992, 2021). Furthermore, she was the head coach of one of the U.S.’s women’s Summer Olympics teams, winning a gold medal in Atlanta in 1996, making her one of the sport’s greatest coaches.
Her collegiate overall record is 1216 wins and 271 losses,“0.818,” and she is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
She was named the Pac-10’s Coach of the Year 18 times.
VanDerveer won her 1,000th career game on Feb. 3, 2017. She passed Tennessee’s Pat Summitt’s (1,098) to become the winningest coach in women’s college basketball. She also surpassed Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski’s wins (1,202) to become the winningest coach, male or female, in NCAA basketball history on Jan. 21, 2024.
She’s also led Stanford to 14 Final Four appearances. Many of her Stanford players have succeeded in pro basketball. Stanford has had 30 players play in a regular-season WNBA game since the league’s inception in 1997. The program has had 13 first-round draft picks out of its 28 all-time selections, including 2016 WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike, and has had seven players win a total of eight WNBA titles.
VanDerveer has backed gender equity in sports, pushing for better conditions, opportunities and recognition for female athletes — especially under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits gender-based discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance, including sports.
Her influence extends far beyond the hardwood floors of Maples Pavilion.
VanDerveer’s leadership of women’s basketball and all women’s sports remains unmatched. Her story isn’t just basketball. It’s also about breaking barriers, challenging norms, and paving the way for future generations of women’s sports. Her legacy is of excellence, inspiring not just athletes but anyone who aspires to make a difference in their chosen field.
As college sports faces an exodus of many coaching icons, Tara VanDerveer’s departure will be felt through all college sports for years to come.
Jim Martin can be reached at [email protected].
