April 2, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball Tara VanDerveer was one of three head coaches that shared the Associated Press National Coach of the Year honor, the AP announced Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.
VanDerveer shares the honor with Connecticut's Geno Auriemma and Miami's Katie Meier.
Saturday's announcement marks the second national coach of the year award this year for VanDerveer, as she was named Russell Athletic/WBCA Division I Head Coach of the Year last week. It is the fifth time in her career that she has earned a national coach of the year award. She was named Women's Basketball News Service Coach of the Year in 1988, Converse Coach of the Year in 1989 and James Naismith Coach of the Year after leading the Cardinal to its first national title in 1990.
This season, she has guided Stanford to its fourth consecutive and the program's 10th Final Four appearance. For VanDerveer, it is her ninth Final Four team, as she was on sabbatical coaching the U.S. Olympic Team when the Cardinal reached the 1996 Final Four.
VanDerveer's charges have brought a 33-2 overall record into this weekend's event in Indianapolis, where the Spokane Regional Champion Cardinal will meet Texas A&M Sunday, April 3 at 4 p.m. PT. It is the fourth straight 30-win season for the Cardinal, which this season has registered key wins over such opponents as then-No. 4 Xavier on Dec. 28, and then-No. 1 Connecticut on Dec. 30, a 71-59 win that snapped the Huskies' NCAA-record 90-game winning streak.
VanDerveer would go on to capture the John R. Wooden Pac-10 Coach of the Year award for a record 11th time after leading the Cardinal to a perfect 18-0 conference record. Stanford would also go on to win its eighth Pac-10 Tournament title in mid-March.
There were also milestones in VanDerveer's season. On Dec. 22 she became just the fifth Division I head coach to reach 800 career wins when the Cardinal defeated San Francisco, 100-45, on Dec. 22. Currently, she boasts a career record of 826-197 over her 32-year career.
In mid-February, VanDerveer was named one of 12 finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The Hall will announce its Class of 2011 on Monday, April 4.