Episode 27 — Tara VanDerveer, NCAA Coaching Legend, on Great Leadership, PT 1

Tara VanDerveer is a Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Coach, widely considered to be one of the most accomplished coaches in the sport. Now retired from coaching, she joins host Chloe Aftel on The Other Pod to talk about her unique and heavily lauded career in the world of basketball. In part one of this exciting episode, the pair discuss the unique aspects of coaching women's basketball, the generational shifts in players that VanDerveer has noticed over time, and how to develop great team relationships for group success. 

Highlights:

• Strategies that successful coaches use to help players set and achieve realistic goals while managing expectations;
• The key differences and similarities in coaching approaches for men's and women's teams, and how a mixed coaching staff benefit both;
• How coaches can effectively build strong relationships with their players to enable honest and constructive feedback.

Bio
Tara VanDerveer is one of the most accomplished coaches in the history of women's basketball, best known for her legendary 38-season tenure at Stanford University, where she led the Cardinal to three NCAA championships (1990, 1992, 2021) and 14 Final Four appearances. Born on June 26, 1953, she began her head coaching career in 1978 and became the highest winning coach in NCAA Division I basketball history, retiring in 2024 with 1,216 victories. A three-time Naismith Coach of the Year and 18-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year, VanDerveer also guided the U.S. women’s national team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. Her leadership, mentorship, and impact on the sport have cemented her legacy as a true pioneer and icon in women’s basketball.

Chloe Aftel has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue & more. Chloe has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on Covid’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in the Covid wards of the West Coast’s hardest hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Her first book, “Outside and In Between,” is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across America.

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