Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer breaks Coach K’s record for most wins in NCAA basketball

With Stanford’s 65-56 win over Oregon State on Sunday, Tara VanDerveer became the winningest college basketball coach in history with 1,203 wins, passing former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s total of 1,202.

The record-breaking game was met with well-deserved attention as the Cardinal were also celebrating alumni weekend with dozens of VanDerveer’s former players in attendance. The postgame festivities were moderated by former Stanford player and current ESPN commentator Ros Gold-Onwude and featured a congratulatory video with messages from Krzyzewski, tennis legend Billie Jean King, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and many others.

With Stanford’s 65-56 win over Oregon State on Sunday, Tara VanDerveer became the winningest college basketball coach in history with 1,203 wins🔥@ChantelJennings on VanDerveer’s legendary career ⤵️ https://t.co/xfChVrxyCk pic.twitter.com/DGIGZJNkA5

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) January 22, 2024

For decades, VanDerveer — a 2011 Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer — has been at the top of the game. She has led the Cardinal to three national titles, 25 regular-season conference titles and 15 conference tournament titles. She has been named the national coach of the year five times and has more wins as a head coach than 344 Division I programs. She has helped produce two WNBA No. 1 picks in Nneka Ogwumike (2012) and Chiney Ogwumike (2014).

VanDerveer began her career as a head coach at Idaho in 1978, winning her first-ever game on Dec. 1, 1978 — an overtime thriller over Northern Montana. She returned to Ohio State in 1980, where she had previously coached the program’s junior varsity squad. In her third, fourth and fifth seasons there, she led the Buckeyes to the Big Ten title and NCAA Tournament appearances. That success caught the eye of Stanford, which hired VanDerveer to lead the Cardinal, which had experienced middling success ahead of her arrival. In VanDerveer’s third season, she led Stanford to the Sweet 16 and in her fifth season, Stanford won its first national championship.

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Given VanDerveer’s resume, Team USA tapped her in the ’80s and ’90s to lead its program. She took a sabbatical year from Stanford during the 1995-96 season to coach the 1996 Olympic team in its run to the Atlanta Games. The team played a 52-game, worldwide tour (going undefeated) to grow the popularity of the women’s game. The team capped that with an 8-0 performance at the Olympics, claiming the gold and starting the dynasty that has seen Team USA claim the last seven Olympic gold medals in the sport. VanDerveer often cites that year as critical to her development as a coach and understanding how to handle outside (and outsized) pressure.

In her five-decade career, VanDerveer has evolved on and off the court. She started coaching basketball when there was no 3-point line, but when it was introduced to women’s college basketball ahead of the 1987-88 season, she quickly installed it in her offense and the shot was a crucial part of the Cardinal’s 1990 national title run.

Throughout much of her career, she ran the triangle offense, reaching several Final Fours by using that scheme. But in the mid-2010s, seeing how the game was moving into a more position-less way, she transitioned into the Princeton offense. The Cardinal won its third national title in 2021 with her version of that offense.

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College basketball’s winningest DI coaches:

Tara VanDerveer: 1,203 wins (Idaho, 1978-80; Ohio State 1980-85; Stanford 1985-present)
Mike Krzyzewski: 1,202 wins (Army, 1975-80; Duke 1980-2022)
Geno Auriemma: 1,196 wins (Connecticut, 1985-present)
Pat Summitt: 1,098 wins (Tennessee, 1974-2012)
Jim Boeheim: 1,015 wins (Syracuse, 1976-2023)

How long will VanDerveer’s wins record stand?

At this point, the only active coach who’s in a position to overtake VanDerveer anytime soon would be UConn’s Auriemma, who’s only seven wins behind VanDerveer. With how close those two are and how successful their programs have been, it’ll only be a matter of which coach retires first.

If VanDerveer retires first, then Auriemma would in all likelihood become the winningest coach the following season; if it’s Auriemma, then VanDerveer would stay on top for the foreseeable future. — Chantel Jennings, senior women’s basketball writer

Will we see a career like VanDerveer’s again?

The more college sports change and the more I talk with younger coaches or coaches who are earlier on in their careers, the more convinced I am that the four-decades, single-school coach is going to end with VanDerveer and Auriemma. With how recruiting has changed and how the sport has become more year-round (as well as the fact that more coaches are better compensated now), the longevity we’ve seen from VanDerveer and Auriemma seems unlikely (though not impossible) to be matched elsewhere. — Jennings

Required reading

(Photo: Brandon Vallance / Getty Images)