Records are unbreakable — at least, until someone breaks them. On Sunday evening, Tara VanDerveer broke perhaps the most impressive one college basketball has on offer.
With Stanford women's basketball's win against Oregon State, the longtime Cardinal head coach earned her 1,203rd career victory, upending the titanic record set by former Duke men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski for all-time NCAA wins. VanDerveer is no stranger to remarkable records, having surpassed Pat Summit to the all-time lead in wins for women's basketball in December 2020.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment for Tara VanDerveer, who is already one of the most accomplished coaches in the history of basketball," Krzyzewski said in a team statement. "This is yet another milestone to add to an amazing legacy. More important than all the astounding numbers and career accomplishments, she’s positively impacted countless lives as a coach and a mentor. Tara remains a true guardian of our sport.”
Throughout her extensive and immensely successful coaching career — 38 years of which have spent in Palo Alto, Calif. — VanDerveer has led Stanford to three national titles and 26 regular-season Pac-12 championships, as well as 15 runs to the Final Four. She has also been named Pac-12 Coach of the Year 10 times and marshaled the United States Olympic team in 1996 to a gold medal.
Krzyzewski, who set the all-time wins record with his 903rd career victory in November 2011, continued to build his legend for 11 years thereafter, surpassing the 1,000-win mark in January 2015 and then the 1,000-win mark at a single school in November 2017. Among his accolades are all five of Duke's national championships in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015, 13 Final Four appearances, 15 ACC tournament titles and 13 ACC regular-season titles.
VanDerveer, aged 70, now looks to extend a now already lofty record.
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Andrew Long is a Trinity senior and recruitment/social chair of The Chronicle's 120th volume. He was previously sports editor for Volume 119.