Charmin Smith, who has played for Tara VanDerveer, coached alongside her and now coaches against her, still recalls her time three decades ago as a freshman on the Stanford basketball team.
“Once I got there, she was just so intense and it made you intense,” said Smith, now the head coach at Cal. “You understood the sense of urgency and the importance of doing things the right way — the Tara way, so to speak. Yeah, I think intense is the right word.”
That competitive nature, coupled with a ceaseless desire to learn and adapt, has brought VanDerveer to the doorstep of becoming the winningest Division I coach in college basketball history, men or women.
She’s at 1,201 career victories entering Stanford’s game against Oregon on Friday night at Maples Pavilion. Oregon State visits the No. 8 Cardinal on Sunday at 2 p.m., when VanDerveer could move past Mike Krzyzewski’s record of 1,202 wins.
Stanford Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer cheers after Stanford scored against the Ole Miss Rebels in the first quarter in their second-round NCAA Tournament game at Maples Pavilion at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, March 19, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Smith, in her fifth season as Cal’s coach, and Molly Goodenbour, in her sixth as coach at USF, both embraced the “Tara way” as players in her program and continue to draw on those experiences.
Goodenbour, 51, played on VanDerveer’s first two national championship teams, in 1990 and ’92, and was the Final Four MVP after the second of those. She is most impressed by VanDerveer’s ability to change with the game since arriving at Stanford in the fall of 1986.
“To me, what’s what stands out in her career, just her willingness to adapt and evolve and figure out how to continue to be successful at the level she’s been at,” Goodenbour said.
“Because there’s a lot of coaches, they’ll retire. `I don’t want to make these changes. I don’t want to figure out how to keep solving the puzzle year after year after year.’ But I think that’s to her credit. She’s been able to do that in a phenomenal way.”
Molly Goodenbour is in her sixth season as head coach of the USF Dons women’s basketball team. (Image by Chris M. Leung for USF Dons Athletics)
Smith agrees, noting how the women’s game — and women’s players — have changed dramatically since VanDerveer began her head-coaching career at Idaho in 1978 at the age of 25. She’s now 70.
“She just can do it all, and has done it all,” Smith said. “She figures out what’s best for the personnel she has. A lot of coaches aren’t that flexible and can’t navigate through times.”
VanDerveer has guided teams to 15 Final Fours over four decades, and won a third national title in 2021 — 31 seasons after her first one.
Smith, 48, said reaching the final weekend of the season wasn’t merely a goal for the Cardinal during her playing days.
“It was 100 percent an expectation. I was not surprised that we were in three Final Fours. I was surprised that we weren’t in four,” said Smith, part of teams that went 118-14 from 1994 through ’97.
She returned as an assistant on VanDerveer’s staff for three years beginning in 2004-05 and was contributed to 87 more victories. She hasn’t had quite the same success coaching against her mentor. Smith’s Cal teams have yet to beat Stanford in eight tries.
Despite that, she embraces the opportunity to duel VanDerveer.
“I freaking love it. It’s fun. I hate losing but it’s just fun trying to beat Tara, you know. I want her to stay so I can keep trying to beat her,” said Smith, whose Bears get their next chance on Feb. 16 at Maples.
Storrs, CT – 11/10/19 – California Golden Bears head coach Charmin Smith speaks to one of her players at Gampel Pavilion Sunday afternoon. UConn won the game 72-61. Photo by Brad Horrigan | [email protected]
While VanDerveer could break Coach K’s record this weekend, UConn coach Geno Auriemma, with 1,194 career wins entering play Wednesday, isn’t far behind.
“I don’t think she does things for the records, but I know this milestone is important to her,” Goodenbour said. “I think she would probably like to end her career as the winningest coach of all time.”
Smith continues to be impressed by VanDerveer’s longevity.
“We thought she was done a while ago and she reloaded and has been highly successful,” Smith said. “I want her to coach for as long as she wants to coach. I have no clue, though.”
With Stanford and Cal set to shift to the Atlantic Coast Conference next season, Goodenbour believes VanDerveer’s passion for conquering new obstacles could keep her on the bench a little longer.
“As much as it’s maybe frustrating with some of the challenges with NIL and moving to a new league, and the uncertainty of what the NCAA’s going to look like,” Goodenbour said, “I do think Tara probably gets some satisfaction out of trying solve this equation, too, and be successful through this transition. Because that’s really something that drives her.”
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