Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer has become the winningest coach in men's and women's NCAA basketball history, surpassing legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski with her 1,203rd win in a 65-56 win over Oregon State Sunday evening.
A career performance from Kiki Iriafen, who finished with 36 points and 11 rebounds Sunday, made VanDerveer's historic afternoon possible, as No. 8 Stanford blew open a nervy opening half with a 20-10 third-quarter run to escape an assurgent Oregon State squad.
VanDerveer began her basketball career as a point guard-turned-center at Albany, playing 150 miles west of her home town of Melrose, Massachusetts. After two seasons, she would head across the country to play under Bea Gorton at Indiana, who modeled her program after the school's legendary men's coach Bobby Knight.
The Hoosier legend surged to an AIAW semi-final appearance in candy stripes and quickly turned her Knight-informed philosophy toward coaching. After briefly coaching with her sister's high school team and Ohio State, VanDerveer landed her first head coaching gig at Idaho in 1978.
🏆 WINNINGEST MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL COACHES
VanDerveer returned to Ohio State two years later in a head coaching role, and by 1985 her career reached its terminus in Palo Alto. At Stanford, she managed to win three NCAA national championships, most recently a 2021 title, also securing five Coach of the Year recognitions and 14 Final Four appearances.
VanDerveer also received an opportunity to coach the United States national women's basketball outfit, earning gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and bronze in the 1994 Sydney FIBA women's championships.
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