tara vanderveer (born june 26, 1953) is an american basketball coach. as a kid, vanderveer taught herself basketball. she first played in indiana. soon after vanderveer set out to be a teacher. she enrolled in a coaching clinic run by bobby knight. out of 500 men, vanderveer was the only woman. in 1990, vanderveer coached at stanford. she has won two ncaa titles, an olympic gold medal, and 11 final fours. vanderveer only coached to be a teacher; she loved teaching. vanderveer has been known to give low-key demands also known as “tar-isms”. “you’re a ferrari; quit driving like a volkswagen” “that ‘s’ on your chest stands for ‘stanford’, not ‘stupid’, so play like it. ” a former student mentioned she was a brilliant coach. to her, tara vanderveer is an educator.