STANFORD, Calif. – Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball Tara VanDerveer is one of 15 coaches named as late season candidates for the 2024 Werner Ladder Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Wednesday. She previously won the award in 1990, 2011 and 2021.
VanDerveer has led Stanford to a 23-3 record this season and a 12-2 mark in the Pac-12. The Cardinal has a two-game cushion at the top of the conference standings and with two wins this weekend, could clinch a share of its fourth consecutive Pac-12 title and 27th in the league's 38-year history.
No. 3 in the AP Top 25, Stanford is No. 2 in the NET rankings, the NCAA selection committee's primary sorting tool for evaluating teams. It was also projected as a No. 1 seed (No. 2 overall) and first- and second-round tournament host in the NCAA women's basketball selection committee's first reveal of the top 16 overall seeds. The Cardinal leads the country with seven wins against the NET Top 25.
In her 38th season on the bench at Stanford, VanDerveer has accumulated a 1,209-268 record in her 45+ years as a collegiate head coach and an 1,057-217 mark on The Farm. One of four coaches in the history of the sport to win three national titles, her teams have won 20 or more games a record 39 times, including each of the last 23 seasons. VanDerveer has coached a team to 30 wins 17 times.
VanDerveer won her 1,000th career game on Feb. 3, 2017, passed Pat Summitt (1,098) to become the winningest coach in women's college basketball history on Dec. 15, 2020, and surpassed Mike Krzyzewski (1,202) to become the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history on Jan. 21, 2024.