Tara VanDerveer became the winningest coach in college basketball history Sunday when her Stanford Cardinal topped visiting Oregon State, 65-56.
VanDerveer, 70, in her 38th season at Stanford, now has a career mark of 1,203-267.
She tied Friday with the previous record holder, Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski, after she led the Cardinal to a 88-63 victory against University of Oregon. Krzyzewski joined the post-game broadcast with a congratulatory message for VanDerveer.
Moments after the win, VanDerveer waved to the stands filled with cheering fans, and hugged her team members and fellow coaches.
While speaking to the press after the victory, the arena erupted in chants of “Tara! Tara!” before some of the players dumped a Gatorade cooler filled with gold confetti on her head.
In a post-game interview with Pac-12 Network reporter Ashley Adamson, VanDerveer was quick to call out her players’ talents, namely junior Kiki Iriafen who had her best performance with 36 points — a career high. Her performance was especially notable with star Cameron Brink sitting out the game.
“I just love how our team battled,” VanDerveer said after the game. “How about Kiki?!”
She called the game “so exciting” and called out Oregon State’s success on the court — noting how all of the players congratulated her on the feat following the game, a reflection of coach Scott Rueck and their program, she said.
“It’s really special to win the game and have you all here and celebrate,” VanDerveer said.
Iriafen told Adamson she played this game especially for her coach because “we wanted to achieve this for her at home,” adding that it is “surreal” to see so many people — including former players Jayne Appel, Chiney Ogwumike and Lindy LaRocque — come to support VanDerveer in the game.
“I’m super honored to be here, super honored to play for her and super happy we got the W for Tara,” Iriafen said.
VanDerveer’s Stanford record sits at 1,051-216 and counting. Before coming to Northern California, VanDerveer was 110-37 in five seasons at Ohio State and 42-14 in two years at Idaho.
VanDerveer led Stanford to national titles in 1990, 1992 and 2021, and has tutored a host of WNBA first-round picks such as Candice Wiggins, Nicole Powell, Jennifer Azzi, Appel and overall No. 1 selections Chiney Ogwumike and Nneka Ogwumike.
Her near-four-decade run of greatness at Stanford has just one blank space, the 1995-96 season when she left The Farm for a year to concentrate on coaching the gold medal-winning 1996 Olympics U.S. women’s team.
That squad, with all-time greats like Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes, was considered a key catalyst in sparking interest in the women’s basket during early years of the WNBA.
A post-game ceremony in VanDerveer’s honor featured videos from other all-time sports leaders and coaches including Billie Jean King, Steve Kerr and Krzyzewski, and former players including Leslie and Chiney Ogwumike.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
David K. Li