Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer is approaching her 1,000th victory as a head coach. What others are saying about her achievement:
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“I remember when Pat got her 1,000th win and everyone thought, ’Wow, nobody’s ever done it before,’ so they said, ’How hard is it to do?’ Well, the fact that nobody had ever done it, means it’s really, really hard. We’ve had some great coaches in our game that haven’t even come close to that.” - Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma on VanDerveer following the late Pat Summitt into 1,000 wins club
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“It takes great commitment, it takes great partnership with your employers and obviously great relationships with your players. You don’t last that long unless people enjoy playing for you. She’s a Hall of Famer.” - Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr
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“Tara is one of the great basketball coaches, not only winning games but shaping people’s lives. The standard she has set can only be admired.” - Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni
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“More than anything, Tara teaches you as a player, as a coach, how to be. How to be as a person. How to be a mature, thoughtful, kind, hard-working, unselfish, goal-oriented person and teammate. I think that’s her greatest legacy.” - Stanford assistant coach and former Cardinal guard Kate Paye
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“It doesn’t get any more easy to comprehend the longer I think about it. It’s unreal. … It’s such big deal.” - California coach Lindsay Gottlieb on VanDerveer nearing 1,000 wins
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“She thrives in that atmosphere, especially at this stage when she wants to be highly competitive. Tara could go for another 1,000.” - former Stanford star Jayne Appel-Marinelli
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“Everything was by the book, intense, no-nonsense, everything. Then, years later, you can laugh about all of it. … Everything was about getting better, and I think that’s why she’s done well for so long. Can you believe it - 1,000?” - Jennifer Azzi, former Stanford guard and member of VanDerveer’s gold-medal winning 1996 Olympic team in Atlanta
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