An Open Letter to Stanford Women's Basketball Coach Tara VanDerveer

[Note: The author sent the following email to Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer in mid-Dec. 2010, several weeks before the Cardinal knocked off Connecticut 71-59 and ended the Huskies' unprecedented 90-game winning streak.]

Dear Tara,

It pains me to write this letter.

First, let me (re)introduce myself. I covered your team for the Stanford Daily during the 1990-91 season (the year between your two titles). It was a great ride, including a Sweet 16 trip to Las Vegas and a Final Four in New Orleans. Sonja Henning was amazing. If Tricia [Stevens] and Julie [Zeilstra] hadn’t had those injuries during the tournament…well, we’ll never know.

All I know is that I was hugely impressed when, after losing some of your best players, you came back and won another title in 1991-92. Val Whiting, Kate Paye and Molly Goodenbour were incredible in that tournament. Since I was working at a weekly newspaper in Los Angeles at the time, I was able to cover the Final Four for the second year in a row. I was convinced you were going to win many titles at Stanford in the years to come.

But you haven’t. And I’m at a loss to figure out why. You’ve been close so many times, but for some reason you haven’t punched it over the goal line. As a huge fan up here in Seattle, it’s extremely frustrating.

Let me just say that I no doubt wouldn’t be writing this letter if you guys had beaten Connecticut in last year’s NCAA final. In fact, after pondering writing this letter for the last couple months, it is all the current hoopla about UConn breaking the UCLA record that finally prompted me to sit down and write it. Because the streak should have been broken last year.

I know you probably know this, but I have to say it: Your team blew it last April. UConn played a terrible game, the worst I’ve ever seen them play…and you still couldn’t finish them off. For some reason, you played down to their level. You were up, what, six at half? You should have been up 16. That’s how bad UConn played. I don’t know what happened. I know Jayne [Appel] was hurt. But she shouldn’t have been out there, getting her shot blocked over and over again. You stayed with her too long, and you paid the price. Kayla [Pederson] was the only one hitting her shots, but she wasn’t getting the ball nearly enough.

But, ok, you lost that game. UConn is a great team and Maya Moore is a superlative player, and they found a way to win as they always seem to do. But let’s back up a bit, and examine your record against the best teams over the years.

Tennessee and Connecticut are obviously the two top teams over the last 20 years. Stanford plays Tennessee every year, and you've played UConn seven times during that span, including five in the NCAA tournament.

The Stanford Web site has records going back to 1996, and Wikipedia has tournament records for the last 20 years. I looked at the home-and-home annual season series between Tennessee and your team over that time: You have compiled a record of 4-11 against Tennessee, including a string of 10 straight losses between 1998 and 2007. You’ve also played Tennessee three times in the NCAA tournament, including twice in the Final Four, and are 0-3 against them, for an overall mark of 4-14.

[Four days after this letter was written, Stanford blew a late lead and lost to Tennessee in overtime.]

As for UConn…the record's even worse. Stanford has played the Huskies seven times since 1995 and is 1-6 in those games, including losses in the Final Four the last two years. In 2009-10 your only two losses of the season were to UConn, one in the regular season, one in the tournament final. Are you sensing a pattern?

Overall, you have been to the Final Four nine times and won the thing twice, about 20 years ago, both years in which neither Tennessee or UConn was in the Final Four. During that same span Tennessee has won six titles (to go with two earlier ones) and UConn has won seven championships (including six of the last 10).

We know you can beat up the Pac-10, but that’s not that hard. It’s winning the national title that matters.

Do Tennessee and UConn just have better players? Maybe...but not every year. What they do have every year is two very, VERY demanding and passionate coaches, individuals for whom losing is JUST NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma will rip even their best players if they don't play to their expectations and abilities. Maya has been the best player in the country the last three years—and I saw her on TV talking about how Geno is all over her at practice for her flaws, always pushing her to be better. Here’s what he said in the most recent Sports Illustrated, in an article about the streak:

“You’ll see Maya go down the lane and you know she’s thinking, Hmmm, I’m supposed to screen someone…no, not there…maybe over here. No, that’s not right either. Hmmm, so maybe I’ll just flash to the top of the key and…then somebody throws her the ball and she knocks down a jumper and the announcer says, ‘Look how Moore moves without the ball!’”

Here’s one theory about Stanford’s inability to beat these top teams in big situations—Cardinal female athletes aren’t hungry. They aren’t tough, and when the pressure is really on they wilt. Look at the women’s soccer program—two straight years of going into the NCAA final undefeated, two losses. 

Maybe it’s because Tennessee and UConn are large state universities with lower admissions standards, which means they can recruit the types of rugged, mentally tough players who might not be able to get into Stanford. These players, on average, may have grown up in tougher circumstances than the typical Stanford player. Just a theory.

And/or maybe you just don’t push your players hard enough, challenge them enough. Convince them that losing is unacceptable. 

Stanford is a great program, but more often than not you can’t seem to win the big one. Until you can do that consistently, on the biggest stage, you’re just third place.

Good luck this season.

David Hirning

Stanford Class of ‘91

[There was no reply—I'm not even sure if Tara read it...but I consider Stanford's win over UConn to be the only reply necessary.]