After completing college, VanDerveer took a year off, with a plan to return to law school. When she ran out of money she returned home. When her parents realized she was doing little beyond playing chess and sleeping, they urged her to help with her sister Marie's basketball team. Her sister was five years younger, and by the time Marie reached high school, the school had basketball teams for girls. Though frustrated by the lack of commitment from the girls on her team, VanDerveer discovered a passion for coaching basketball. Inspired by the experience, VanDerveer applied to twenty colleges and universities for an unpaid graduate assistant position. She received only two responses, one of which was for Ohio State, where the athletic director had remembered her from Indiana. She was hired as an assistant coach of the varsity team and the head coach of the JV squad. In her first year, she coached the JV team to an 8–0 season. That caught the attention of Marianne Stanley at
Old Dominion, who offered her an assistant coaching position. VanDerveer wanted to finish her master's degree, so accepted a paid position at Ohio State, at a salary less than a quarter of the Old Dominion offer. Idaho improved to 17–8 in her first year, and were 25–6 the following season, which earned an invitation to the Division II
AIAW tournament. VanDerveer's first year with Stanford was a step backward for the coach. After four consecutive 20-plus win seasons at Ohio State, the Cardinal finished under .500 in her first year, with a 13–15 record. The Cardinal barely improved the following year, reaching 14–14. By her third year, VanDerveer was largely playing with players she recruited in whom she had instilled her coaching philosophy. Stanford's record jumped to 27–5, earning the Cardinal their first NCAA tournament bid since 1982. VanDerveer's team reached the 1988 Sweet Sixteen, and the program earned an invitation to the tournament in every subsequent year under her leadership. Another milestone was reached in the following year, when Stanford won the Pac-10 regular season, the first of many conference championships. They earned a two seed in the NCAA tournament, and played to their seed, losing to
Louisiana Tech in the
Midwest regional final. In the 1990 tournament,
Stanford advanced to the Final Four to face
Virginia in the semi-final. The Cavaliers were competing in their sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament, and had reached the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight in each of the previous three years. Stanford beat Virginia 75–66 to advance to the national championship game. The championship game pitted Stanford against
Auburn, who had finished as runner-up in each of the last two Tournaments. Auburn opened up an early lead, but Stanford point guard
Jennifer Azzi helped bring the team back to a tie score by halftime, and led a run in the second half that would earn the Most Outstanding player award for Azzi, and the first national championship for VanDerveer and Stanford. In April 2021, VanDerveer coached the Cardinal to their third NCAA title with a 66–65 victory over South Carolina in the Final Four and a 54–53 victory over their Pac-12 rival Arizona Wildcats in the championship game. It marked their first title in 29 years. On April 9, 2024, VanDerveer announced she would retire from coaching, ending a tenure that lasted 38 seasons. A few months after the announcement, in September 2024, VanDerveer signed an agreement with the Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB), where she provides audiences with practical strategies and actionable insights for building high-performing teams and nurturing talent.
National team Although the USA Basketball women's national team had considerable success in the 1980s—winning the
1984 Olympics, the
1986 World Championship, the
1988 Olympics, and the
1990 World Championship—there were signs of concern. The USA women's
Pan American team, while not formally the national team, has, since the mid-1970s, included many of the same players as the national team. The Pan Am team in 1991 would finish third, signaling a potential end to Team USA's past dominance. VanDerveer had previously worked with USA Basketball teams in 1986 and 1990, Prior to 1996, the head coach had much input into the national team selection. While the USA Basketball organization selected the pool of potential players, the head coach chose the final team. That changed in 1996, when USA Basketball decided to take over the selection role. The initial selection was of 11 players, with plans to add a 12th player later, which would allow the organization to determine what was most needed. The lack of input led to some differences of opinions, as VanDerveer was concerned that the team assembled by USA Basketball was undersized compared with teams like
China, which featured a center. Although Team USA would win all eight games in the
1996 Olympics, with the closest game being a 15-point victory over
Japan, VanDerveer was not certain of victory, even as the team was en route to a 52–0 pre-Olympic record against college and national teams. After beating the
Cuban national team on May 26, 1996, in
Townsville,
Australia, the team record reached 44–0. In their next game against the
Ukraine national team, played in
Adelaide on May 14, the USA team won again, but VanDerveer was not happy. Ukraine, at full strength, was not the best team in the world, and was not seen to be as strong as
Russia or
Brazil. Moreover, Ukraine was expected to add better players before the Olympics, yet the USA team won by only 11 points, 62–51. The opening game of the Olympics was against Cuba, a team the USA had beaten handily several times during their exhibition tour. The USA team was playing in front of a home crowd and played tight in the beginning, while Cuba hit six of their first eight shots to take a 14–7 lead. The USA team settled down, helped by a spark from the reserves, and went on to win 101–84. The second game was against Ukraine, another team they had played in exhibition, but a team that had competed well against the US, worrying VanDerveer. This time the USA team won by a comfortable score of 98–65. While the first two games were in the compact
Morehouse College gym, filled to capacity with under 5,000 spectators, Team USA would play their third game at the
Georgia Dome against
Zaire. The total attendance of 31,320 broke the record for the largest crowd ever to witness a women's basketball game. Zaire was over-matched, and the USA team won 107–47, ensuring a place in the medal rounds. The next game was against Australia, one of the stronger teams in the field. The game was the first game played by Team USA after the
bombing incident which left the team with little sleep. The attendance set a new record, with 33,952 spectators. The game was close for much of the game, with no team leading by more than six points until late in the second half, when Team USA extended the margin and won 96–79. Team USA had a height advantage in the next game against Japan, with no Japanese player standing over six feet tall (1.83 m). The USA exploited the advantage, and opened up a 28-point lead, but Japan fought back with three-point shooting and cut the lead to 13 at one point. The final margin was 15 points, the closest game to that point. After emerging undefeated from the group stage, VanDerveer's team faced Australia again in the semi-final match, winning 93–71. They faced Brazil two days later in the championship game, winning 111–87 and earning USA their third Olympic gold in women's basketball. VanDerveer's Olympic team was considered one of the best ever assembled, and compiled a 60–0 record over the course of the year, culminating in a gold medal at the Olympics in Atlanta. ==Coaching tree==