Tara VanDerveer and Tennessee’s Pat Summitt are ready to test their skills in front of the world in a planned home-and-home series whenever their schedules match up. Here are the highlights:
- They always has mutual respect for each from their sportsmanship on the court to their decorum off the court.
- VanDerveer tied the late Hall of Famer for most coaching wins in women’s basketball. She credited Summitt for the inspiration to get to that accolade.
- VanDerveer said, “We would talk, and I think that one of the things, I like the idea of competing against great coaches to get better.” Of course, this made her step up her game and truly take her team to another level.
- The 67-year-old VanDerveer has surpassed Summitt’s mark in a game against Pacific. Even though only some ESPN camera men were able to catch this moment (outside of her winning team and staff), she was smiling behind her mask while her eyes lit up.
- Her team presented her with a jacket that says “T-Dawg” on the back.
- This was quite the physical game and it was definitely a nice momento to the coaching.
- In fact, senior Kiana Williams said, “She doesn’t just care about us as basketball players but as people too.”
- Even Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr complimented her as the Coach K of women’s basketball (comparing to Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski).
