Tara VanDerveer Ties Pat Summitt's Record for All-Time Wins by a Women's Basketball Coach

The longtime Stanford coach is next poised to become the all-time women's basketball wins leader.

Richard Brian-USA TODAY Sports

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer tied the late Pat Summitt's record for all-time wins by a women's basketball coach following the Cardinal's win over rival California on Sunday.

VanDerveer, 67, now has 1,098 career wins. On the men's basketball side, only Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (1,157) has more Division I wins.

Following top-ranked Stanford's 83–38 victory, VanDerveer could pass Summitt on Tuesday night at Pacific.

Together at the top.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/rt84dSEusa

— Stanford WBB 🌲🏀 (@StanfordWBB) December 14, 2020

"We were great friends. I learned a lot from coaching against Pat," VanDerveer said after Sunday's game. "I think the thing I learned the most was just how much her players loved playing for her. As a coach, I think that's all of our goals. To be like Pat is to be a coach where your players love playing for you."

VanDerveer has established herself as one of the top coaches in women's basketball throughout her storied career. She is in her 35th season as head coach at Stanford and has led the program to two NCAA championships (1990, 1992), 12 NCAA Final Four appearances and 22 Pac-12 regular-season titles. In February 2017, VanDerveer became the second women's basketball coach to notch career 1,000 wins.

Connecticut women's hoops coach Geno Auriemma reached that same mark in December 2017. He isn't far behind VanDerveer's career record with 1,091 wins in 35 seasons with the Huskies, although he will have some catching up to do after the Huskies' delayed start to the season. UConn's women's basketball program shut down in late November due to COVID-19 issues. The team resumed practice on Dec. 7 and opened the season against UMass Lowell on Dec. 12.