Beyond 1,000

In 1985, Andy Geiger was looking for a women's basketball coach and felt he had found one. She was young, smart, and already had built a winner with a big-time college program.

The Stanford athletics director didn't have much to offer: An increase in pay, yes, but no tradition to speak of, just an ideal: that academics and athletics were in proper balance. He also could offer a promise: that great things were possible.

Tara VanDerveer was intrigued, Geiger offered her the job, and the rest is history … she turned it down.

If the narrative had stopped there, Stanford would not have become the seventh Division I women's basketball program to reach 1,000 victories, which it did Friday with a 76-54 victory over Oregon State. The Cardinal would have gotten there eventually and probably with great success, but not the way VanDerveer did it – by lifting an entire sport on her back.

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VanDerveer wavered, but eventually took the job, and within four years turned a program that played in an atmosphere akin to YMCA ball, to one that regularly sold out 7,500-capacity Maples Pavilion and would win the first of two national championships.

These were magical times, not only on The Farm, but for the sport. As the public enthusiastically embraced the fast-paced, high-scoring, three-point-shooting style of national player of the year Jennifer Azzi and her teammates, the game attracted crowds and TV audiences unseen before. Indeed, Stanford and programs like Tennessee and Connecticut were entertaining. How about that? And the sport was pulled into the mainstream.

Since 1988, the Cardinal has reached 12 Final Fours, 17 Elite Eights, 22 Sweet Sixteens, every NCAA tournament, and won 23 Pac-10/Pac-12 regular-season titles, 11 conference tournaments, and at least 20 games 27 times.

Of the 1,000 victories, VanDerveer has coached 824 of them during a career that has earned her four national and 14 conference coach of the year honors, and inductions into the Naismith Memorial and Women's Basketball halls of fame.

"Tara is Stanford women's basketball."
» Jennifer Azzi

Long after 1,000 has stretched into other milestones, Stanford great Chiney Ogwumike can imagine the impact VanDerveer has had on her life.

"Even when she's done, it will be, What will Tara do?" Ogwumike said. "What's Tara's standard? Am I attacking this practice the way Coach Tara would attack this practice? It's all based on the culture Coach Tara has brought."

Long before Air Jordans and Chuck Taylors, there were bloomers and bow ties, such were the uniforms Stanford wore in 1896 for the first intercollegiate athletic contest in women's history, a 2-1 end-to-end victory over California at the San Francisco Armory. There were nine players per side, no dribbling and no backboards. Five hundred women attended -- men were not allowed – and the victors were met at the Palo Alto train station by hundreds more cheering students and escorted back to campus on a bus decorated with flags and cardinal bunting. During a reception afterward, each team member was awarded a Stanford Block 'S.'

The celebration didn't last. Women's team sports were banned at Stanford in 1899 after much debate over whether it was healthy, or appropriate, for women to extend themselves physically.

There were a few stops and starts, including a mini schedule in the early 1970's when Stanford featured 6-foot-2 center Lucy Wicks, the sister of UCLA and NBA star Sidney Wicks. But it wasn't until Jan. 29, 1975, when the Cardinal, coached by unpaid graduate student Gay Coburn, registered its first official women's basketball victory, beating Santa Clara, 56-53, at Roble Gym.

From the Stanford Daily game story headlined, "Women Cagers Win Opener," came this passage, almost comical in its' we've-come-a-long-way description: "In spite of an amazing 94 turnovers, 56 of them by Stanford, the overflow crowd of 125 in Roble Gym was treated to an exciting contest."

Kelly Thompson and Sukie Jackson led Stanford in scoring that night, with 12 points apiece. Stanford's uniforms were late – they wouldn't arrive for two years. Instead, the team wore white T-shirts with numbers pressed on the backs, and red shorts. On the road, red pinnies were tied over the T-shirts and the team sweats were whatever hooded sweatshirts the players could afford at the bookstore. And, no, there were no women's basketball scholarships

As for Roble Gym … if you can't say something nice …

The original Roble Gym was built in 1896 for women's P.E. activities – the men had the more luxurious Encina Gym on the other side of campus. Roble's wooden building seemed old not long after it was built, and was known as the "Woodpecker Lodge." The structure "would have collapsed if the termites had ever stopped holding hands," wrote Don Liebendorfer in "The Color of Life is Red," and was replaced in 1931.

The original home of Stanford women's basketball

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The building seemed just as out-of-date by 1975. There was no scoreboard and seating consisted of a single bench along a wall. 'Varsity basketball' and 'Roble Gym' seemed to have very different connotations.

Maggie Nelson, a player on that 1975 team, began hounding the administration, demanding equal treatment. Title IX, after all, had passed in 1972, but enforcement was slow. Teammates often joined her. A concession was made to play three games in Maples Pavilion in 1975-76, and the program was granted a full home slate at Maples the following year, though the women had to work around the men's schedule and practice times. It was the first indication of a greater commitment from the University and, for the first time, the team received uniforms, a trainer, access to the weight room, and a real coaching staff. Dotty McCrea would coach the team for the next nine seasons. But the traverse was far from easy.

"Admissions determined your team," said assistant athletics director for women's basketball operations Eileen Roche, McCrea's assistant for three seasons. "One year, none of our top 10 got in. We were working so hard trying to get players. It was discouraging, but we didn't feel sorry for ourselves. We were thrilled to be here and trying to make it work."

McCrea was a fiery sort, a shooter out of Monmouth University via a league in Morocco. She commanded an "East Coast" fast-paced style and led Stanford to its first postseason appearances, in the NCAA tournament and its forerunner, the AIAW. But the still-largely overlooked program ultimately fell on hard times.

"We were playing man-to-man defense, and this guy comes out of the stands and hands Dotty a note. It said, 'You need to be in a 2-3 zone.'"
» Eileen Roche

Stanford went 5-23 and 9-19 in McCrea's final two seasons and its Stanford Daily beat writer, Olympic gold medal swimmer Pablo Morales, was a bigger celebrity than the team he was covering.

Geiger did not renew McCrea's contract and she would begin a long career as high school as a high school principal in San Francisco.

"We got on the phone and called all our recruits and said, 'We're not going to be here, but you need to come to Stanford because it's a perfect fit for you,'" Roche said. "We wanted to make sure it continued on. That was Dotty. She had a lot of class."

Geiger targeted the 32-year-old VanDerveer, who was building a power at Ohio State. The Buckeyes won four consecutive Big Ten titles, going 18-0 in the conference in 1985, and narrowly missed their first Final Four appearance.

"I found Tara to be incredibly mature," said Geiger, now retired near Port Angeles, Washington. "She had terrific success at Ohio State, was very smart. Her intellectual capacity, her obvious inclination to study the game and to continually learn and grow, was fascinating to me. I knew she'd be perfect for Stanford."

VanDerveer always had ingenuity. As the only girl attempting to get into pickup games, she owned the best ball in the neighborhood to ensure that she would be selected. She once tried out for cheerleading, but didn't make it and settled into a life of a basketball gym rat. As a student at Indiana University, she learned from Bobby Knight, taking his coaching classes and jotting notes from the periphery of Hoosier practices.

She loved the weather and the challenge that Stanford offered, but the decision to leave Ohio State was agonizing. Ultimately, something Geiger told her stuck: "As challenging as it may seem," he said, "the reward is absolutely enormous."

VanDerveer first gave him a flat-out 'no,' but Geiger persevered in his pursuit and landed his dream coach in what could be regarded as the greatest hire in Stanford sports history.

"I was shocked that she decided to leave Ohio State," said Amy Tucker, VanDerveer's Ohio State assistant and alum who would follow VanDerveer to Stanford.

"Honestly, I got phone calls like, "You are crazy!" VanDerveer said. "Including my parents."

Soon, Tucker understood: "For her, it was the ultimate challenge. If you could win at Stanford, you could win anywhere."

With no tradition to speak of, no marketing, and so few fans that the lower bleachers at Maples remained tucked away during games, VanDerveer could be excused for regretting her decision.

"It was a real tough decision," VanDerveer said. "I don't know if I would make it again. It's so hard to build a program. It takes so much out of you. It's so stressful, and we had it going on at Ohio State.

"The first person I met in my interview was John Bonnell, the associate dean of admissions. He basically said, 'You have to find players that can jump through the same hoops academically as the other students.' And I'm thinking, I need five players who can put it through the hoop."

VanDerveer went to work, issuing three commands to her assistants:

"Priority No. 1 is recruiting. Priority No. 2 is recruiting. Priority No. 3 is recruiting. Goodbye! See you later!"

Tucker soon found a blue-chip recruit that would change the path of the program. It was Azzi, from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the backyard of University of Tennessee coach Pat Summitt.

Tucker's conversation with VanDerveer went something like this:

"She's a great player," Tucker said.
"Great! Does she have the grades?"
"Yeah, but there's one problem."
"What's that?"
"She's from Tennessee."
"Oooh … That is a problem."

"It's hard to say no to Tara," Geiger said. "She's very persuasive. She convinced a whole lot of really wonderful young women to come to Stanford."

Azzi was among them and despite the weak state of the program, she said she had no intention of compromising her basketball goals.

"Losing for me was never an option," said Azzi, now coach at University of San Francisco. "Our whole group understood that in order to win, we would have to get better."

The standards still needed some work -- when they earned their 10th victory in 1986, the players broke out in celebration. Stanford finished about .500 in each of her first two years, but Azzi helped beyond the court, she was a heck of a recruiter. From moment to moment, she might be pinning flyers to dormitory bulletin boards, or calling prospects to convince them to come to Stanford. Azzi was vital in the recruitment of guard Sonja Henning, and future stars Katy Steding and Trisha Stevens, the backbone of the team for the next few years.

And then Stanford began to win, and did so spectacularly -- running up and down the floor and regularly eclipsing 80 points, 90, and even 100. The always-fit Azzi directed the chaos, leading the break and pulling up from the new three-point line. The 1989-90 team averaged 92.8 points per game and the 1988-89 team shot 44.1 percent from three-point range.

"We were playing a high-octane offense that people didn't expect to see in women's basketball," Azzi said. "We were one of the first women's teams to play that style, and the fans loved it."

Azzi was an immediate hit and role model, inspiring those like local point guard Kate Paye, who would go on to play at Stanford and now is an assistant coach. It didn't take long for the bleachers to be pulled out at Maples and the fans to fill the ticket windows hours before tip-off. By the end of Azzi's senior season, in 1989-90, the games were selling out.

"It was a pre-Warrior Warrior thing," VanDerveer said. "Honestly, it was that kind of excitement and fun. The fans cried when they lost. The players were accessible. It was like watching a friend or a neighbor. The fans loved those teams."

The Cardinal had the talent to win a national championship, but VanDerveer sensed it lacked only a belief in itself. She met with Stanford women's swimming coach Richard Quick, who had learned that athletes need to get comfortable with the idea of winning. That's when VanDerveer posted a sign above the locker-room door, saying, "1990 National Champions; Get Comfortable With It."

They did. Stanford won its first NCAA title, beating Auburn, 88-81, to complete a 32-1 season. And they did it in four years: "That's near-miraculous," Azzi said.

A couple of years later, Paye, the girl who idolized Azzi and Henning, was attempting to walk-on at Stanford when she was pulled aside by VanDerveer.

"We sat in the southwest stairwell at Maples after practice one day," Paye said. "She said, 'All right, you've made the team. But don't be satisfied.' That was kind of it, and we went along our way."

The memory remains one of Paye's most treasured. She was a freshman on Stanford's second NCAA winner, in 1991-92, a 78-62 victory over Western Kentucky.

Since then, a nearly unbroken line of greats has proceeded through Stanford -- Val Whiting, Kate Starbird, Nicole Powell, Candice Wiggins, Jayne Appel, Nnemkadi Ogwumike, sister Chiney Ogwumike. And each year, Stanford continues to win by forging a style of play from the talent at hand.

"That's the challenge that Tara likes, that every year is different," Paye said. "Every year is a puzzle and figuring how to put the pieces together. Tara's really brilliant at that."

Said Tucker, "I don't think a lot of coaches have that kind of vision. We do what we can to win with this team. And, next year, we might do something totally different."

But the players need to buy in. And, as the victories have shown, that hasn't been a problem.

"To win Coach Tara's respect, you cannot take any play or possession off," said Chiney Ogwumike, now with the WNBA's Connecticut Sun. "Every play or possession is an opportunity, a teaching moment or a learning moment, a moment where you can prove yourself. There's no rest.

"She's the hardest worker in college basketball. She watches more video of our opponents and ourselves than anyone else combined."

"She's so committed, so you have to be equally committed. If you work hard, she respects that. It's as simple as that."
» Chiney Ogwumike

"It's hard to work hard every second of every day, but that's the standard she demands and that's the standard she lives."

It's been 31 years since VanDerveer came to Stanford. She is the model that Stanford coaches, in any sport, strive to be. When David Shaw was hired as football coach in 2011, he cited VanDerveer's longevity on campus as something to aspire to.

"I look at Tara not only as an icon in the sport, but as a person whom people within our department seek counsel on how to do things," said Bernard Muir, Stanford's Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics.

VanDerveer hasn't hinted on whether she'll continue to lead Stanford to another 1,000 wins, but she doesn't have to. Her influence will be profoundly felt for far longer than she'll realize. Young players like Anna Wilson, an incoming freshman point guard from Bellevue, Washington, can feel it as well.

"What attracted me to Stanford wasn't just the overall excellence of the school, but the pursuit of it," Wilson said. "I'm excited and motivated and I'm not even there yet. It encourages me to work harder every day."

Beyond 1,000 victories, Stanford women's basketball holds a greater meaning.

"When people think of Stanford basketball, it's doing it the right way," VanDerveer said. "There are women that come to Stanford, they graduate, go to law school, medical school, they're professors or moms. This is just a springboard. What they learn at Stanford, whether it's basketball or in academics, really is a foundation for their life – in values, in teamwork, discipline, and goal-setting.

"It's not just basketball. It's excellence all-around."

"It's not just being a great basketball player, it's not just being a great student. It's accepting the challenge to be great at both.
» Tara VanDerveer

"And," she added, "it's hard."

From those 1,000 victories, there are memories more numerous than those who cheered the Cardinal to each one.

"They were hard-earned, sweat-soaked, stressful, gray-hair wins," VanDerveer said. "Every one of them."