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Stanford

Tara Vanderveer becomes winningest coach in college basketball history with 1,203rd victory

On3 imageby: Sam Gillenwater01/22/24samdg_33
Stanford HC Tara VanDerveer
D. Ross Cameron | USA TODAY Sports

1,203 is a pretty large number, especially when it comes to victories in athletics. Now, with Stanford’s win over Oregon State on Sunday, it’s the new record for coaching victories in the history of collegiate basketball as Tara VanDerveer owns it all to herself.

No. 8 Stanford won 65-56 over the Beavers on Sunday to move to 17-2 on the season. It signified even more for VanDerveer, though, as it moved her past Mike Krzyzewski for the most victories for any coach in the sport, men’s or women’s, all-time.

Stanford went back and forth versus Oregon State through three low-scoring quarters inside Maples Pavilion. They separated a bit by the end of the third, though, and handled their business in the fourth to secure the historic win. Kiki Iriafen, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, led the way with 36 points, good for over half of the team’s scoring output, and a dozen rebounds.

Following the win, the program celebrated the achievement by their head coach.

VanDerveer has been a head coach in college basketball for all but one season since 1981. That’s good for a total of 41 years on the sideline. She spent the first four at Ohio State before taking over at Stanford in 1986 until today.

1,052 victories for VanDerveer have come in the regular season while the remaining 151 have come during the postseason.

Over her career, she led her teams to 28 league titles and 16 conference tournament championships. In total, VanDerveer has led her teams to 37 appearances in the NCAA Tournament from those wins. Those have led to 14 Final Fours and three national titles. Each of the national championships have come while with the Cardinal in 1990, 1992, and 2021.

Geno Auriemma at UConn is the next closest coach on the women’s side to VanDerveer.

As for Krzyzewski, his final victory came with Duke against Arkansas in the Elite Eight in 2022. The Blue Devils would then go on to the Final Four in New Orleans where they’d lose to North Carolina.

Winning is a difficult task and doing so consistently is even more so. Still, after nearly a half century on the sideline, VanDerveer has earned a crowning achievement in college basketball with the most all-time victories by any single coach.