STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford’s Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball Tara VanDerveer will be honored with the 2016 Coaching Corps Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s 2nd Annual Game Changer Awards tomorrow evening at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
VanDerveer’s award will be presented by former Stanford All-American and current San Francisco head women’s basketball coach Jennifer Azzi. The event supports Coaching Corps’ mission to provide youth from under-resourced communities access to trained coaches and the benefits of sports activities and team-based learning.
Additional presenters include NBA MVP Stephen Curry, San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence and Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. The ceremony will air on Comcast Sports Net Bay Area on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m.
The 2nd Annual Coaching Corps Game Changer Awards is hosted by CSN Bay Area’s Dave Feldman and Ahmed Fareed, along with Stanford alumna Ros Gold-Onwude. After the broadcast debut (Sunday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. on CSN Bay Area), the program will re-air later that evening at 11 p.m. on CSN California.
In a storied 37-year coaching career, Tara VanDerveer has established herself as one of the top coaches in the history of collegiate and international women’s basketball, and been inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (2011) and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (2002).
An ambassador for both Stanford University and the sport of college basketball, VanDerveer has enjoyed an unprecedented level of success through an energetic and positive approach to the game. A four-time national coach of the year and 14-time Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year, VanDerveer, who prior to coming to Stanford served as head coach for a combined seven seasons at Idaho (1978-80) and Ohio State (1980-85), has accumulated an impressive 968-222 (.813) record in her 37 years as a collegiate head coach and an 815-171 (.827) record over 30 seasons at Stanford.
In November 2013, VanDerveer became just the fifth college women’s basketball coach to win 900 career games. Last March she won her 800th game at Stanford, becoming the 10th college basketball coach – men’s or women’s – with that many victories at a single Division I school. The third-winningest coach in NCAA women’s basketball history, VanDerveer is 32 victories away from joining Pat Summitt as the only coaches with 1,000 career wins.
VanDerveer has led her Stanford teams to two NCAA Championships (1990, 1992), 11 NCAA Final Four appearances, 22 Pac-12 regular-season titles, 11 Pac-12 Tournament crowns and 27 trips to the NCAA Tournament. She has also led Idaho to one AIAW Tournament appearance and Ohio State to a pair of NCAA Tournaments while twice being named Big Ten Coach of the Year.
In 1995-96 she served as head coach of the USA Basketball National Team, leading the team which included Azzi to a 52-0 exhibition record and then to the Olympic Gold Medal with a perfect 8-0 run at the 1996 Atlanta Games.