Women's College Basketball
Tara VanDerveer sets NCAA hoops record for wins: A statistical overview of her career
Women's College Basketball

Tara VanDerveer sets NCAA hoops record for wins: A statistical overview of her career

Published Jan. 21, 2024 7:25 p.m. ET

Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer has passed Mike Krzyzewski for the most wins of any coach in college basketball history, men's or women's. VanDerveer led Stanford to a 65-56 victory over Oregon State to break the record. The 70-year-old Hall of Famer first started coaching in the 1978-79 season and has been at Stanford for the last 38 years. 

[Stanford's Tara VanDerveer becomes winningest coach in college basketball, passing Mike Krzyzewski]

FOX Sports Research broke down VanDerveer's illustrious career by the numbers, going over her accolades and achievements at every level.

1,203: VanDerveer has set the NCAA men's and women's record for career wins as a head coach, passing Mike Krzyzewski, a.k.a. "Coach K."

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16,487: The number of days that have passed from her first win as a head coach on Dec. 1, 1978 at Idaho, to her 1,203rd win on Sunday at Stanford.

10: She is one of ten female head coaches to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

1: She only has one losing season in 45 seasons as a head coach, going 13-15 in the 1985-86 season. She has one other season in which she did not finish above .500, going 14-14 in the 1986-87 season.

15: Of the 22 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournaments that have been held (since 2002), she has won 15 of them, including seven straight from 2007-2013.

355: VanDerveer currently has more wins than 355 of the 360 Division I NCAA programs.

6: She is one of six women's basketball coaches in NCAA history to record over 1,000 career wins.

5: She is a five-time National Coach of the Year award recipient, winning it in 1988, 1989, 1990, 2011 and 2021.

17: She has won Pac-12 Coach of the Year 17 times since her first season with Stanford in 1985-86.

4: She is one of four coaches in women's college basketball history to win three national titles (Geno Auriemma, Pat Summitt, Kim Mulkey), having won in 1990, 1992 and 2021.

10: She is one of ten coaches in women's AND men's college basketball history to win three national titles (John Wooden, Krzyzewski, Adolph Rupp, Bob Knight, Roy Williams and Jim Calhoun).

38: Her teams have won 20 or more games 38 times, an NCAA record. She is on pace to make it 39 this year, and doing so would make it 23 straight seasons with at least 20 wins.

25: Her Stanford teams have won 25 regular-season Pac-12 titles, more than any school in the conference's history.

7: VanDerveer led Stanford to its 1,000th win in program history in 2016, making the Cardinal one of seven Division I programs to reach the milestone.

36: She has 36 players who have been named first-team All-Americans (WBCA and Associated Press), including Candice Wiggins, who is the program's only four-time All-American to date (2005-08).

4: Stanford has had four Player of the Year winners in VanDerveer's career, with two Naismith Trophy winners (Jennifer Azzi, Kate Starbird) and two Wade Trophy winners (Jennifer Azzi, Candice Wiggins).

1996: VanDerveer coached the 1996 U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal; she led the team to a 52-0 exhibition record and then an 8-0 record in the Atlanta games.

30: VanDerveer has had 30 players play in a regular-season WNBA game since the league's inception in 1997.

14: Stanford has had 14 first-round picks under her watch, the third most of any school — trailing only Tennessee and UConn.

7: VanDerveer has had seven players win a total of eight WNBA titles, including 2016 WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike.

14: Stanford has 14 Final Four appearances under her watch, more than any men's coach and third most of any women's coach (Auriemma, Summitt).

37: VanDerveer has made 37 NCAA Tournament trips, the most of any coach. She has made 34 consecutive tournament appearances with Stanford, trailing only Tennessee for the longest active streak — which has made all 41 NCAA Tournaments.

3: She is one of three coaches to make five consecutive Final Four appearances (did so from 2008-12), along with Auriemma and Muffet McGraw.

98: VanDerveer has recorded 98 NCAA Tournament wins, the third-most all time, trailing only Auriemma and Summitt.

132: She has coached in 132 NCAA Tournament games, the second-most of any coach, trailing only Auriemma. 

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