COVID Made Stanford's Women's Basketball Team Homeless And They Still Won A Chip

Stanford finished off a ridiculous run through a TOUGH Women’s NCAA Tournament field to become the 2021 National Champs. The fact that Stanford only had two losses this year after being forced to be on the road for over 9 weeks due to COVID is ludicrous. 

Tara even mentioned this was the hardest year she’s ever had to coach. Think about packing a bag for 9 weeks. It’s tough to comprehend. 

ESPN chronicled this WILD stretch where the Stanford team was basically homeless.

They were told BY TEXT to pack their bags, and that they probably weren’t ever coming home. Permanent fucking road trip. They had no idea where they would practice or where they would play. The uncertainty was almost overwhelming. 

And this kind of traumatic event? It brings teams together. They became a TEAM due to their shared experience, and that was no more evident during their tournament run, which saw them win both Final Four games in the dying seconds. 

I was honored to interview Tara Vanderveer, the Cardinal’s long-time coach, on the latest episode of THIS LEAGUE. She was everything I hoped she would be and much, much more.

For those who don’t know her back story, it’s just one incredible success after another. To say she has elevated not just the Stanford program but women’s basketball during her 43 year coaching career would be a gross understatement. Tara Vanderveer IS women’s basketball. She’s a three time national champion coach, having won titles 29 years apart, and is the winningest coach in the history of women’s collegiate basketball. Yes, that includes Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma. 

Stanford women’s basketball lives and dies on shooting the three and defending against it. What I found fascinating in our conversation, is that she talked about how she was first introduced to the three point line -- yes, she fucking coached BEFORE the three pointer was introduced in America. That is insane. 

So the history of the three point line is fascinating. It dates back to 1945, but was not widely popular until the three point line was introduced to the international game by FIBA in 1984. It was then brought into the men’s collegiate game in 1986 at 19’9” (eventually moving to 22 ft 1.75 inches). 

Like most things, it was late to the women’s game. When Tara Vanderveer started coaching at Stanford in 1985, she saw the future of the game. So she worked to take her Cardinal women’s team on an international tour to give them experience against different competition. This is what she had to say:

TK: How important was it for you to be an international coach?

TARA: That was a tremendous experience for me. We took our Stanford team on that first international trip to China and played against fabulous competition. Our Stanford team would eventually win a national championship in 1990, but we went over in 1988 and we got blasted by everyone we played. They had great, great teams. And they had the three point line internationally and then we adopted the three point line in college basketball that next year and I think that really helped us win a national championship, playing against teams that one player alone might take ten threes against us. We’re going to shoot threes, and that’s how we won our first national championship in 1990.

Guess what? Stanford set an NCAA tournament record for three pointers in 2021. So lessons Tara Vanderveer learned in the 1980s are still being put into play today. That not only shows how much longevity she’s had, but how successful she’s been. 

We talked about how she’s taught the game in multiple eras, without internet and the ability to show film on tools like YouTube and how the game has evolved since she started coaching, the future of women coaching in the NBA, and how she schemed against Aari McDonald, the 6th highest scorer in women’s NCAA tournament history, and more. 

Please give this interview a listen, it was one of my favorites to date. The amount of basketball knowledge that she has is stunning.