STANFORD, Calif. – On the 45th anniversary of Title IX, no one is more appreciative thanTara VanDerveer, the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball.
When President Richard Nixon signed the bill in 1972 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex to create more opportunities and participation for women, little did VanDerveer know how it would affect her.
A 1975 graduate of Indiana, she was a three-year starter on the basketball team. Coincidentally, the bill was authored Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana.
VanDerveer became the head coach at Idaho in 1978-79, and is still going strong. This year, she completed her 38th season – 31st at Stanford -- and became just the second women's coach to surpass 1,000 wins (1,012).
Title IX changed everything.
"It gave me a career," she said. "Without it, I'm not coaching at Stanford. I've traveled the world and coached the Olympic team. Basically, the highlights of my life are from that legislation."
Women's athletics have come a long way, especially on The Farm. Only sailing was a varsity sport prior to 1972.
Since 2005-06, the Cardinal women's programs have claimed 29 national titles, 17 in NCAA competitions. Stanford has also amassed seven lightweight rowing and five synchronized swimming crowns.
In 2016-17, the Cardinal extended its record streak of capturing at least one NCAA team championship to 41 consecutive years. Stanford also secured the Learfield Directors' Cup presented to the top athletics program in the country for a record 23rd straight year. The Cardinal holds a significant lead in the women's standings of the Capital One Cup, given to the season's most successful school in the nation.
The Cardinal compete in 36 varsity sports – 16 men's and 20 women's. The latter have made significant contributions for the Directors' Cup. Since 2005-06, they have amassed 9,523 points, an average of 793.58 per year, compared to 7,951 by the men (662.65).
"A lot of schools are working to comply with Title IX in various ways," said senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator Beth Goode. "We are an example of providing not only a breadth of programs and opportunities, but really the depth of our programs is what makes it a unique combination that many schools can't match."
Goode, now in her 22nd year at Stanford, credits the foresight and vision of her predecessors, including former athletic directors Joe Ruetz, Andy Geiger and Ted Leland, and senior associate athletic director Cheryl Levick, for being proactive. Ten women hold head coaching roles for the 900-plus student-athletes split almost evenly between men and women.
"There were very intentional decisions with the administration and campus about how we were going to expand these opportunities," said Goode. "It was a deliberate plan."
While Stanford Athletics continues to be a leader in forging more opportunities for women, it continually monitors, tweaks and refines the way it operates.
"For us, Title IX is kind of like the ground rules," said Goode. "We want to do more than that."
Top priorities are advancing women's athletics, creating more head coaching opportunities, and overall exposure.
"We want to make women's sports more mainstream," VanDerveer said. "We need to do a better job of promoting and getting people in the stands. Media coverage is our next frontier."
Thirteen Stanford women's team have won national titles.
"We want all of our student-athletes to have championship experiences and compete at the highest level," said Goode.
VanDerveer has been a trailblazer for women's sports and college athletics, leading Stanford to two NCAA crowns, 12 Final Fours and 29 trips to the tournament. A four-time national coach of the year, those accomplishments wouldn't have happened without Title IX.
"So many of our titles have been won by female student-athletes," she said. "The ability to compete is still new and fresh for women. We're excited and hungry."
