Gonzaga Women’s Basketball has been playing a yearly matchup with Stanford pretty much every season since the ‘09-10 campaign with the Zags going 3-12 across this time. The only constant in the personnel involved has been Tara Vanderveer’s presence on the Cardinal sideline. In fact, she started coaching at the Bay Area university all the way back in 1985, which predated the creation of the Pac-10 by one year.
In those 38 years at the helm, Vanderveer cemented her status as a coaching legend with a 1064-220 overall record, appearing in 35 NCAA Tournaments, making 14 Final Fours, and winning it all on 3 occasions, the last being the 2020-2021 season.
After so many years of consistent and high level performances, Tara formally announced her retirement on April 10th 2024. While she remains in the program as an advisor, Stanford quickly acted to honor her legacy as on May 10th 2024, the University announced they would be renaming the court inside the Maples Pavilion to Tara VanDerveer Court in her honor.
The official unveiling of the rebrand will take place on November 10th when the Bulldogs travel to California to face the Cardinal at 3 p.m. EST on ESPN2.
The official unveiling of Tara VanDerveer Court is set for Nov. 10 when Stanford hosts Gonzaga (3 p.m. ET, ESPN2). VanDerveer retired this past offseason after an NCAA-record 1,216 victories over 45 seasons at Idaho, Ohio State and Stanford.
— ESPN Women’s Hoops (@ESPN_WomenHoop) October 2, 2024
This will be a tough matchup for the Bulldogs as the roster will still be finding their rhythm with this representing only their second official game of the season and first on the road.
