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[MUSIC] >> [APPLAUSE] >> [LAUGH] [MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] >> Hello.
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It is so great to have you here. >> Thank you, Shannon. It's great to be here.
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>> We are closing out this year's View from the Top series as you close out a historic career.
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It's pretty incredible to have you.
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We are at the business school.
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So I wanted to start with one of those numbers we just saw 1216.
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That's the total number of games you've won, making you the coach with the most victories in college basketball history >> I need to add some tallies to the jacket because there's only 1203 on there right now.
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>> [APPLAUSE] >> But thank you, Shannon.
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I started when I was about ten years old, so it's been a nice run. I've enjoyed it.
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>> Well, we're going to get that entire journey.
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But take us back to the moment in January when you won the record breaking game. How did that feel?
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>> I didn't make a shot, so I did not win anything.
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But we were playing Oregon State, and I knew it was the game because people had asked about it and talked about it.
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I went to the gym, and I just thought, okay?
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This is just another game, but in fact, it wasn't another game.
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I didn't know everyone had planned a party afterwards, because I thought, well, if we don't win this one, we'll get the next one.
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But we had a really great celebration afterwards.
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And Jennifer Erphy was there.
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Cherneau Gomekay, just all former players and it was a party.
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And I was expecting to play bridge with my mother.
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I play online with my mom.
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And I was expecting to play bridge at 4 o'clock.
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And my sister calls and says, where's Tara?
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She's not online to play.
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And my mom said, she's still at the gym. And I was just enjoying. It was overwhelming. It was wonderful.
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And then you just get back at it and next day got another game.
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>> And you've got this jacket- >> I did.
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>> I see that you're rocking. Tell us about this. What's the jacket?
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>> Well, this is Nike made this jacket so one of a kind.
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I don't think anyone else has one.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And they brought it out to me.
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I really didn't expect anything.
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And then I wore the jacket to dinner the next night and we went to Nobu.
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And one of the servers is a friend of mine one of my friends, children, works there.
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And he said, Tara, Christian Mccaffrey's outside, eating outside.
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I said, great, leave him alone, don't bug him.
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And I went out the side door, and all of a sudden I turn and I see this person running at me.
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It's Christian, he runs fast.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And he goes, Coach Vandermeer, I'm Christian McCafferty.
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Like I didn't know who he was.
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>> [LAUGH] >> So I'm like, okay?
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He goes, let's take a picture.
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And it went viral on, I guess, Twitter, whatever, TikTok, whatever it is.
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>> All those platforms, yeah.
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What Nike told me was they had the jacket specially made, and one person flew it out, dropped it off, and flew back the day of the game.
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So, I feel really special.
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>> Well, you are so special to Stanford as an institution and to this community.
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So special that also last week they renamed the court in Maples Pavilion after you, which is such a well-deserved honor.
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>> [APPLAUSE] >> Thank you all.
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>> So you've been a coach for 40 years, you've led the Olympic team to gold, and you've been a trailblazer for women in sports.
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We're going to get to all of this, but I want to rewind and start at the beginning.
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Do you remember the first time you held a basketball >> Shannon, can I go back one second?
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I want to congratulate our any guys here from the GSB intramural team.
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>> [LAUGH] >> They won a championship >> [APPLAUSE] >> And I just want to congratulate you guys.
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I went to the game, and they beat our practice guys, and I think some of our practice guys are here, too.
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But I am such a hoop head, and I started as a hoop head in the third grade.
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We did what's called three-player weaves, and I just went home, and I was I was in love.
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I was just l this is awesome. I loved it.
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And it was really exciting to play.
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But it was hard because only the boys got to play and we had a situation where we had a little stage actually, and the girls sat on the stage and the boys got to play.
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And it was so frustrating that I just was like, I had a really good ball if I wanted to play with the boys so I'd have the best ball and if they wanted to use it, I got to play.
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And I kept playing and playing, and fewer and fewer girls played.
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And I grew up basically going from my next door neighbor had a hard court and a hoop.
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But if they didn't want me there, they'd put the car under the hoop.
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So then I'd go to another place.
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And it was just, I loved it.
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I just I love basketball from a very young age.
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>> And so what you're saying too is that this was before title nine when women had limited access to funding and resources for sports in school.
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So if you didn't have sports in school, how did you further develop your love for the game?
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>> Well, I got to watch a lot of basketball.
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I played with the boys and I'm really proud of the fact that in the ninth grade, my ninth grade, the gym teacher who was a boys basketball coach, wrote in my yearbook to the best basketball player in the ninth grade boy or girl, and I was, yeah, but I don't get to play on a team.
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And it was really frustrating, but I all I loved watching basketball and in the seventh grade, I tried out to be the mascot and I got the job for two weeks.
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It was a bear and I had a big bear head and I would turn the bear head, take it off and turn around watch the game and because I wasn't leading cheers, I got fired.
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>> [LAUGH] >> So that's the only job I've been fired from, so far. But I love basketball.
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I read every book in the library.
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The librarian called my dad and said, Mr.
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Vandiver, I'm worried about Tara.
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And he's like, God, what trouble did she get in?
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And it was like the librarian said, she's read every book in the library about basketball.
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And that's something I maybe would do in my spare time, write children's stories because all the books I read were about boys.
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>> Wow, that would be incredible.
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So you have this passion, but you end up going off to college and decide you're going to become a lawyer. >> All right.
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>> You ended up on a slightly different path.
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How do you end up going from law to basketball coach?
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>> Well, I majored in sociology.
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And at the time when I was in college title nine, as you referenced, did pass.
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And title nine is a law that was passed for not discrimination against women in colleges and if they were going to take federal fines.
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It passed in 1972, but it was never really started and didn't get any traction right away.
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But when I graduated, I ran out of money.
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I wanted to go to law school, and at Christmas I went home and I'm like, my parents are excited Tara's home.
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And after Christmas I'd ask her we're going to do I said, I'm just going to hang out here because, no, you're going to go coach, your sister's team.
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I have a younger sister, five years younger, that was just playing basketball because her friends played.
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She didn't even practice in the driveway one time that I ever saw.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And they said, well, you're going to go help coach your sister's team and I'm like, dad, I'm not.
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And he said, yes, you are.
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If you're going to live here in our house and eat our food and you're going to go.
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And I'm like, dad, they lost last night, 99 to 11.
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>> [LAUGH] >> He said even more reason to go coach. So I said, okay?
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And I learned two really important lessons coaching my sister's team.
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I came home from the game and the first thing my dad says, well, how come you didn't play?
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Play with Marie more, I'm like, Dad, Marie can't shoot.
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She doesn't play defense, she doesn't rebound.
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And then my mother says, but Tara, she's so nice.
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And I'm like, I know mom.
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But I also knew that everyone on the team was someone's sister.
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And I think that that's really, really important that I learned that and I remember that because sometimes in games you can get a little heated and you might want to yell at a player and then you just have to remind yourself that.
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>> Well, let's talk about that getting heated in games, your role as a coach.
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At the GSB, one of the core tenets of our curriculum is actually coaching, how to be coached ourselves and receive feedback and how to coach and lead others.
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And as future business leaders, there's a lot we can learn from you on and off the court.
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So to start, how do you view your role as a coach now?
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>> I think as a coach more than anything number one, I'm a teacher.
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And I've had, you kind of asked the question, how did I get into this basketball and learn about it, I've watched a lot of basketball.
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And I've watched a lot of coaches, and I've also been coached in situations not so much in basketball although I did have an excellent college coach.
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And her name was B Gorton she's passed away, but we only had like 8 games, and I was always thinking when I was playing I'm thinking about what I should be doing.
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But sometimes I just maybe couldn't do it.
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And my coach would say to me, Tara, you need to have fewer turnovers, because I turned the ball over a lot.
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And I had read in the book by John Wooden that if you are having turnovers, you're trying to make things happen.
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So I told my coach, I said, coach I'm just trying to make things happen.
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And she said, make a little less happen.
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But, I think that coaching is teaching.
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It's really trying to help people go to a place they can't go by themselves.
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And I learned that from my piano teacher.
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I thought I could teach myself how to play piano.
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That lasted two weeks, and then I got a great teacher, a fabulous teacher.
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And I was making CDs within a year.
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And people said, wow, how'd you do this?
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And I said, I have a great teacher.
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And what I realized was she was able to take me to a place that I couldn't get by myself, and that's what I try to do with the players on our team.
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>> That's really powerful, how do you do that?
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How do you motivate your players?
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>> I don't know that, the players I recruit for Stanford are very motivated themselves.
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I mean a lot of them are sitting right in front row all American, all American, all American Olympian.
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So first of all, I recruit great players. We recruit great talent.
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And so then, and then that's putting in them in a situation where we maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.
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And I think that even as a coach, I was thinking about this today, Shannon, knowing we were going to talk about it.
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I think that I have done better when I've had administrators that I know care about me and that I know they're invested in me.
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And I know that they are behind me 100%.
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So I think more than anything, I want the players I work with to feel that I have their back, that I want to help them reach out of their goals and be the best they can be.
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So I think that that's pretty much how I try to work it.
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>> The new head coach was your assistant coach for a long time, Kate Pei, who's also a GSB alum.
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>> And law school, she took the easy route.
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>> Followed your law school path as well.
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She said that you're often referred to as the velvet hammer, that you can deliver a harsh message in a kind way. Do you relate to that?
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>> Well, okay, is she's not here today because she's at the ACC meeting back in Georgia somewhere.
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But, I don't know, I mean, I think I tried to be honest and direct, as much as possible, but a lot of what you're able to say to someone is based on the relationship you have with them.
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So the deeper relationship you have the more connected you are the more you can coach them.
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And so I think that that's maybe with Kate, I knew Kate when she was 11 years old, so she she got the hammer she didn't get the velvet one.
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>> [LAUGH] >> But I think that's a great compliment that she had.
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But if you're in the game, you can't really sugarcoat stuff.
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You can't say, well, no Shannon, let's hope you sprint back this time and guard someone, no, you gotta sprint back and guard somebody.
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So I think, being direct in and making people look good, that's my job.
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>> And I've read to you that you've lost your cool once that you decided you were back in the locker room- >> [LAUGH] >> You decided, okay, I'm going to yell at the team, I've got to get them going, we got to win this game, and you won.
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And then afterwards you're like, well, that's not how I want to lead.
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How do you motivate people if you're direct but, talk about that.
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>> I won't say that I've only lost my cool once.
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>> Well, good, because that was still [CROSSTALK].
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>> That time was a little bit over the top.
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And I realized that that wasn't who I wanted to be.
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And I think more than anything, I wanted to be a coach that my sister would want to play for, or that I want to play for.
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And I think it's very applicable especially, a lot of the business and future business leaders that are sitting here.
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This is a little off-road if I'm allowed.
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I was reading in the newspaper yesterday in the New York Times about ten people that had retired and anyone else read that article?
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Anyone else retired in this audience?
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No, they're all young, all right, then.
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The article is really great to talk about all retired, I'm excited.
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And then I read the 234 comments about one person started with, I wish I could have skipped from childhood to retirement, the in between was awful.
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You know a lot of people are very unhappy in their jobs.
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A lot of people just hate going to work.
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And I think that that's something that it made me really sad because my experience for the most part was magical.
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But when I did have maybe an administrator or someone that I had to report to, and they were divisive or they weren't supportive, life was miserable and we didn't win as much.
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So the high performance was low when I didn't feel supported, and that was something that I really felt that instead of people feeling not seen, irrelevant, a cog in the wheel, which is these are the comments that were made.
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I would just like to say that, going forward for me and also I want to encourage you.
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And this is kind of coming up to one of your other questions is, that we we can do better.
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And I want to challenge myself every day to do better, that was a little long answer, wasn't it? >> No. >> Okay.
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>> Well, even this past year, you thought I can really live-off our team we can do better.
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And you brought in an executive coach for the first time, someone we all know and love our former GSB dean of admissions Kristen Moss.
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What was it like being coached by Kristen, and being on the other side of that coaching equation?
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>> All right, so the way this happened was I spoke at the leadership academy over in the business school for a former dean, Robert Joss.
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And I'd done this for like four or five years and I reached out to Bob Johnston said, I need help.
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We had underachieved in 2023, and it wasn't fun and it wasn't a happy team.
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And I just thought, especially with our leadership, this was something that I wanted to really improve and really work on.
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So if you are a musician, you would go to Mozart, if you're an artist You go to Michelangelo.
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Well, if you want leadership, you go to Kirsten Moss, and that's who I got. So I just went.
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I skipped right to the top and recruited Kirsten.
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She told me flat out she didn't know anything about basketball, and I think she was right.
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>> [LAUGH] >> But what I loved about working with Kirsten was she was all in.
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And so she would meet with me and we would talk about how we could really make this year a great year.
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And I knew going into this year around August that this was going to be the last year in the Pac-12.
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And we had pretty much dominated the Pac-12 and we wanted to finish strong.
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So I just thought not only do we want this to be a great year, because coaching and winning, this this is not enough. I mean, it's not enough. It's how you feel.
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If you watched the video of the hugging, the excitement, just the joy that you have, there is nothing more rewarding.
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And Andrew sitting right here, Andrew Luck, he knows a little bit about winning and football, but there's nothing more rewarding than a great team. Am I right, Andrew?
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When you have a great team, and you do this, the synergy, the excitement, that's what I wanted for our team.
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I didn't want to just to win, and I just didn't want we'll be in shape and we'll play defense and we'll shoot, but just to experience the excitement.
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And that was something that Kirsten really helped us with, helped us with connectivity, helped us with whether it's our values, our team values.
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And we did a pact, and we signed a pact, our whole team and all of our staff, and we had three copies of it.
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One in the office, one in the locker room, and one we brought to practice.
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And it talked about communication and making sure that we're building trust and respect and that everything that we're doing the best.
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And at the bottom it said, hashtag, best year ever. And Kirsten was awesome.
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So she was a great recruit.
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>> [LAUGH] >> Well, she recruited all of us to be here, so we're very grateful to Kirsten.
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>> Yeah, I know you're great recruits too.
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>> [LAUGH] >> So that pact that you just mentioned, that's very tactical.
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What are some other tactics that you use to build this strong culture you're talking about that we could think about as we're leading teams in the future as well?
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>> Well, again, I'll come back to I think that coaching and if you've ever been on a team or if you've really watched a successful team, there's this great connection and the relationships.
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But some things don't always go the way that you want them to, and you have to be direct and you have to make changes, you have to be able to make adjustments.
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And I think that more than anything is people really wanting and giving themselves up, being unselfish, being mature.
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And I use kind of the phrase of being a great teammate, and that a great teammate is someone really special Very few teams have players that are really excited for someone else doing well.
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And I use the analogy with our team of an orchestra, that we're all playing instruments, and sometimes you're just keeping the beat, but sometimes it's going to be your solo, and that you're happy for someone else when they have a solo.
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And if they flub up, then you're there to help them and you're encouraging them.
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And we worked with our former freshman dean at Stanford, Julie Lythcott-Haims, who was awesome.
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We work with a happiness professor at Stanford, Fred Luskin.
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So kind of bringing in some other resources just to give our team the best chance of, hashtag, having the best year ever, and really having fun. That's one thing.
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Our staffers sitting here, they're awesome. They're just awesome. We have fun. We laugh a lot. They laugh at me a lot. No, not with me, at me.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And we just have a great time.
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>> I've heard your team put together a book also of these iconic phrases that you use to motivate them called Taraisms.
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Can you tell us a little bit about these Taraisms and where they come from?
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>> Shannon, these Taraisms, I don't think of them.
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I mean, they just happen.
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>> Okay- >> [LAUGH] >> Let's hear a couple. >> They just spurt out.
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So one time we were in practice and someone, I mean, just did something really stupid, and I'm like, it was Ross, who I love, Ross, but I'm like, Ross, they made the movie Dumb and Dumber, and you weren't in it.
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So I mean, just something like that.
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Or someone will be trying to pull the wool over my eyes, yeah, we've gotta go to class.
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I'm like, I was born at night, but not last night.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And one of my favorite ones actually is some days you're the dog and some days you're the hydrant.
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>> [LAUGH] >> So that's how it works.
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>> Good, I hope that we all go on to use that with our teams in the future.
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>> [LAUGH] >> You maintain the sense of fun, but you also perform under immense pressure.
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One of those pivotal moments in your career was when you were selected to lead the US Women's Team in the 1996 Olympics, and you had the president of the United States in your ear telling you to go for gold, no pressure.
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How do you stay so grounded and perform in such high stakes?
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>> Well, I'll tell you a little Olympic story that was kind of fun.
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I was introduced, I'm not superstitious, but it was April 13th of Friday, as the Olympic Coach over in Kissick Auditorium across the way.
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And I was introduced this way by the president of USA basketball.
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What had happened was in 1992, the Olympic team, the women's team, had won a bronze, which is basically losing.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And the men's Dream Team had won the Olympic gold medal.
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And so the Olympics were in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996.
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And this was a new program, they wanted to win the gold medal in Atlanta.
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And also, it was a time that they were trying out the idea of a professional women's basketball league, which would be the WNBA in the ABL.
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So CM Newton introduced me this way.
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This is not about bronze, this is not about silver, this is about gold, Tara VanDerveer.
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>> [LAUGH] >> I was like, okay.
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>> [LAUGH] >> All right, thank you.
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And I live over in Menlo Park.
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And the gold medal game was April 4th, sorry, August 4th, 1996.
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So on August 4th, 1995, I was running up Valparaiso Hill, if anyone knows where that is. I call it Olympic Hill.
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And I'm sweating, I'd gone for a nice run.
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I got in the shower, and I said, my god, a year from today is the gold medal game. What if we don't win it? What if we're not in it?
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And I started absolutely shaking.
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So I got out and I sat down, I said to myself, all right, you know what you're doing, you have a great team, what would stop you from winning a gold medal?
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The only thing that's going to stop you is negativity.
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Get back in the shower, wash off all that negativity, watch it go down the drain, and I did a double rinse.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And from then on, I never had a negative thought about winning the gold medal.
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And during the whole year, everywhere we went, in the airports, we went over 150,000 miles, and everywhere we went, people said, bring home the gold, bring back the gold.
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And our team did feel a lot of pressure.
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And Katy Steding sitting right in the front row was on the team. We all felt pressure.
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But we went to the White House, and we were going to go for a run with the president of the United States, which is a tremendous honor.
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The president at the time was Bill Clinton, and he had just gotten back from From Ireland, and this was before his vegan diet.
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>> [LAUGH] >> And he he was on a different timezone.
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And one of the aides said to me, now, coach VanDerveer, what if one of your girls on the team can't keep up with the President?
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>> [LAUGH] >> I was like, I will cut them on the spot.
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>> [LAUGH] >> We were out running, and we were on some island.
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We first had to wait in the White House, and he came down, he met everyone, he was great.
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And then we got in our vans, he got in his limo, and we went out to this island, and we're jogging, and he stopped. He was tired.
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And he was pointing out some little things.
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And then he starts running and we turn this corner and there are Reacher's 500 cameras reporters. He started sprinting.
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>> [LAUGH] >> I said, y'all, let's go.
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So he didn't feed anybody in our team.
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We were right there with them, and it was just incredible.
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And we had the 12 of us, the coaches, and the President of the United States in a circle talking.
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And I was like, yeah, you have to pinch yourself.
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You're like, whoa, this is really fun.
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The afternoon, we went to meet with our two female Supreme Court Justices, and one of them is from Stanford, Sandra Day O'Connor.
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She was sitting right next to me.
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And it's in a smaller room and but there's cameras, and then she looks back and she goes, you're gone, like that, and the cameras all pack up and leave.
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And she turns and she goes, now we can talk.
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And she turns to me, she goes, Tara, I have a surprise.
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I'm thinking, what the heck could this be?
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A surprise from the Supreme Court Justice?
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And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was there too.
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So we go up to the third floor.
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She goes, Tara, this is the highest court in the land.
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They had a basketball court on the top of the Justice building.
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So we're going to play basketball.
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Our team with Lisa Leslie 6'6", and Justice Ginburg, 5'5".
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>> [LAUGH] >> And I'm just thinking, please, Lisa, do not block her shot.
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>> [LAUGH] >> But she didn't.
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But we had fun, we had fun.
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And everywhere we went, it was bring back the gold.
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And we went 16-0, and won the gold medal.
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And it was very, very exciting and really fun.
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But I'm thinking, gold medal?
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That's pretty darn good, 16-0.
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I get home, I look at the refrigerator, of course, nothing's there.
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I go down to the safeway and I'm putting oranges in a bag.
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And this woman is kind of looking at me, like when someone knows you, they're looking at you, and she goes, weren't you the coach of the Olympics yesterday? I go, yeah.
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She goes, you're shorter than I thought.
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>> [LAUGH] >> That's amazing.
26:59
Well, as someone who's 5'2", I have also heard that before, unfortunately.
27:03
But what an incredible story!
27:04
And you did, you brought home the gold.
27:07
Another pressure, I imagine you're facing right now that a lot of coaches and athletes are facing is NIL, which, for context, in 2021, the NCAA adopted a new policy that allowed players to profit from their name, image, and likeness.
27:22
What do you think we should do about NIL? Should this exist?
27:25
>> I definitely think NIL should exist.
27:27
Name, image, and likeness, I should own mine and you should own yours.
27:32
But along with that, there's a lot of other things that are happening.
27:36
I'm very excited for any one of our players, any coaches, if they get an NIL deal, I'm excited for that, too. I think it's great.
27:45
But along with that has become other things, which are collectives, and collectives are through the university.
27:52
And now it is very challenging.
27:56
Players are not just recruited because they want to come to Stanford and get a great education and play on a great team, but there's payments involved.
28:05
And the payments are fairly good.
28:10
I mean, for one year, some of the male players will go for 2 million.
28:13
Some of the football players are 2 or 3 million.
28:17
And that's the collective money.
28:20
We've worked so hard to get Title IX.
28:22
And the collective money, according to Charlie Baker who's the president of the NCAA, 99% of that goes to men right now.
28:29
And not NIL money, but collective money, which is different.
28:33
So, Saloner, we could talk the whole rest of the time on that, but we've got better things to talk about.
28:38
>> [LAUGH] >> Well, I'll follow up with just one quick question then, because you do have the future president of Stanford sitting here in the front row.
28:46
And you have a unique position on this. What should Stanford do?
28:51
>> Well, if Stanford wants to be competitive, just like anything, we're the number one business school, yes?
29:00
>> [APPLAUSE] >> Yeah, I have to say, it's really fun to win.
29:07
It's really fun to win a national championship.
29:09
And you saw a little bit of the excitement and the enthusiasm. It's fun to be on top.
29:15
And I think Stanford should be a leader in everything, including football, basketball, men's and women's basketball, every sport that we compete in, because I just think we're leaders in so many things.
29:27
And what I came to Stanford for, my dad did not want me to come to Stanford.
29:33
You kind of saw a little bit where my dad called this a graveyard job.
29:37
And I called my dad I said, I already taken the Stanford job. But I kind of fibbed.
29:43
I said, dad, I'm thinking about taking the Stanford job.
29:47
And he said, do not take it, there's no way you can win.
29:49
There's no way you can recruit that caliber of student athlete to come to Stanford.
29:54
And I said to my dad, dad, I've taken the job, and hung up the phone.
29:59
And he said to my mother, Tara will be unemployed, coming home, living with us in three months.
30:04
>> [LAUGH] >> But I came here because of the combination of excellence in academics and athletics.
30:12
And I want that to continue for Stanford and for our great Stanford University.
30:17
But it's a very challenging time, and that's why it's great that we have someone like our future President Levin, who is brilliant and will figure it out.
30:25
>> [LAUGH] [APPLAUSE] >> No pressure, John.
30:34
>> Another topic that's been in the news a lot this year is gender equity, which you just touched on.
30:39
24 million fans viewed the Women's Championship game, which was great.
30:44
>> [APPLAUSE] >> And it was nearly double the amount that watched the men's game.
30:49
But Caitlin Clark, the number one WNBA draft pick, has a starting salary of $76,000, compared to the NBA's number one pick who made 10 million last year.
30:59
How do we reach gender equity in sports?
31:03
>> Well, remember, Caitlin also signed a $28 million contract with Nike, so that's not bad.
31:08
>> [APPLAUSE] >> I would back up and say that as a young girl, I'm one of five children, and my mother will always remind me, you're one of five.
31:20
And I've one brother, and growing up my parents didn't serve hotdogs to the girls and steak to the boys, one boy.
31:30
But I think that that's where we want to start, is just to make sure that we are being equitable at the high school level, at the junior high level, at the college level.
31:42
When we have our basketball camp, we have maybe 50 eight-year-olds sitting in a room similar to this.
31:49
And I will talk to them about how I didn't play junior high basketball.
31:52
I never went to basketball camp.
31:54
There were no scholarships, there was no television, there was no pro league.
31:57
And one little girl raises her hand and says Why not? And I'm like, okay.
32:05
Can anyone else answer that question?
32:07
And so another little girl raises her hand and goes, sexism! Like that.
32:11
>> [LAUGH] >> So we have to be fair.
32:17
Now, women's professional basketball is way behind in terms of the number of years we've been at it.
32:23
But as it's more, as it's marketed better, as it's promoted, as people write about it, and do things like this, and I'm here promoting women's basketball.
32:35
And how many people have ever been to one of the women's basketball games at Stanford? Awesome, awesome!
32:41
All right, how many people are coming next year?
32:42
Everyone, raise your hand.
32:43
>> [LAUGH] >> Everyone, except for I know the second years that you're leaving, but, let's support girls in women's sports.
32:51
Let's support daughters in their sports, and it will grow and things.
32:56
I think that it'll change, but we are starting behind, and it wasn't too long ago.
33:02
I mean, things have really just taken off for men's basketball, too.
33:07
>> [COUGH] >> Well, thank you for paving the path for so many women, not just in sports but in organizations around the country. >> Thank you, Shannon.
33:15
>> Your players are sitting here in the front row, and you really see them more than athletes, but you see them as family.
33:21
What are some of the lessons they've taught you over the years?
33:24
>> Shannon, first of all, you are doing a great job, and- >> [LAUGH] [APPLAUSE] >> This is about you, this is about you!
33:30
>> [APPLAUSE] >> I think about this, I'm just talking about myself.
33:36
I don't have any notes, but you're talking and asking questions.
33:40
You don't have any notes and you're knocking it out.
33:42
>> It's easy to talk to you.
33:43
>> Even though you're 5'2" you're doing a slam dunk job, thank you. >> [LAUGH] Thank you!
33:47
>> [APPLAUSE] >> So I'm going to tell you three stories, actually four, about players that I've coached.
33:56
And what I have learned so much and so much more from the players I've coached, then I think they've ever learned from me.
34:03
There was a young lady that was on our team.
34:05
She walked on our team, and she was sitting down by the water cooler.
34:10
I mean, she was that far down the bench, she really never got in the game.
34:14
I mean, she just wasn't good enough.
34:17
We had two all-American guards on our team at the time, Jennifer Azzy and Sonia Henning, but she was on our 1989, 1990 team.
34:24
And I asked everyone on the team to write on a little index card, what is your contribution to the team?
34:30
And here's someone that never plays, way down the bench, hugging the water cooler, and she wrote down, spread sunshine.
34:39
We won a national championship that year.
34:41
And what's fun about the story is her name is Angela Taylor, and what is fun is that she went on her next year.
34:48
She unfortunately got hurt but she came back, and she was, again playing behind some maybe really, really good players, Molly Goodenbauer who was a great player for us.
34:57
And I said to Angela, I said, do you want to go in the game any time?
35:01
Sometimes, kids don't want to go in the game when there's a minute left or 30 seconds left.
35:05
She said, Tara, put me in any time.
35:07
We're playing against Dawn Staley.
35:09
Anyone know the name Dawn Staley?
35:11
[NOISE] >> All right, we're playing against Dawn Staley in Virginia.
35:13
We're playing for the semifinal game in the NCAA Tournament.
35:17
And Dawn somehow convinces the referees to put time back on the clock.
35:22
The horn went off, and I just thought, this does not feel right.
35:26
Everyone's kind of going up to court.
35:27
But Dawn runs over the refs and gets them to put 0. 7 seconds on the clock.
35:32
I put Angela in to guard Dawn, who I knew the ball was going to, and she did a great job and we ended up winning the game, and winning the national championship.
35:39
So again, spread sunshine, that was Angela's message.
35:45
We had a young lady on our team, Jamila Weidman, and Jamila is a fabulous young lady, an incredible speaker.
35:51
She is a lawyer in New York, she works with the NBA.
35:54
And Jamila was a fabulous leader, even as a freshman, I think was captain of our team as a freshmen, which is very unusual.
36:03
We lost just a heartbreaking game, probably the hardest game ever, I get choked up thinking about it.
36:10
We were 17 or 18 and then the coach fell asleep or something, and we lost this game.
36:16
And we go into locker room and our players are devastated.
36:19
They're laying on the floor crying and sobbing, and the press comes in after ten minutes of the game.
36:26
So I'm like, hey, you all, come on now. Nobody does anything.
36:30
Jamila gets in front of the team and goes, pick your heads up.
36:36
And all of a sudden everyone is looking at Jamila, and she goes, I would rather lose with you than win with anyone else.
36:43
And it just it was just a great lesson in leadership, it was just awesome.
36:50
And then one time Katie was on this trip, we were in Ukraine.
36:53
We're in Kiev and we had to load the bus at 3:30 in the morning, it's freezing, we're in January.
36:59
And we're going out to the bus, and players in the morning are kind of grumpy.
37:04
Not Katie of course, but everyone is getting on the bus, and then there were probably 10 to 15 women with very thin jackets, not really good-looking teeth, begging outside the hotel.
37:16
And they had somehow knew we were leaving at 3:30.
37:19
Everyone gets on the bus, we all do this, we all walk by people.
37:23
Jennifer comes out and she reaches in her pocket, and she starts giving people money out of pocket.
37:28
Then she opens her suitcase, takes out stuff and everyone gets off the bus, and does the same thing.
37:34
And I'm so proud of Jennifer, and honestly so ashamed of myself that I didn't think of that.
37:40
That that to me, again, is great compassion and great leadership.
37:45
And then the last young lady that I just want to tell you about is someone that is just a superstar.
37:53
She was from South Carolina, her name is Chris McMurdo, and she was everything in high school.
37:59
Like so many of you, she was a National Merit Scholarship winner.
38:05
She was president of her class, president of the Honor Society, everything, undefeated basketball team, captain of her team, and from South Carolina she wants to come out to Stanford.
38:18
And I'm like, wow, this is great.
38:20
We're really excited about this.
38:22
On her visit, her mom, her dad was a nuclear physicist.
38:28
He worked at the project down South Carolina he wanted to go to Slack.
38:30
So I asked my assistant coaches, would you rather go to Slack with Mr McMurdo, or to the mall with her mom?
38:38
All three assistants, I want to go to the mall.
38:40
So I went to Slack for seven hours. That was incredible.
38:45
>> [LAUGH] >> But you do anything for a great recruit.
38:48
So we come out of Slack, he said, Tara, wasn't that exciting?
38:51
I'm like, wow, that was great.
38:54
>> [LAUGH] >> So, Chris comes to Stanford and I'm driving, I pick her up at the airport.
38:59
Was her coming in for her freshman.
39:01
I'm driving in, beautiful palm drive, the church, the blue sky, the palm trees, and I just thought I'd chit chat a little bit.
39:10
And I said, Chris, what do you think about right now?
39:14
You think about a freshman coming to Stanford, what's my room going to be like?
39:21
What's my roommate going to be like?
39:22
What are you going to be like? She paused.
39:25
And then she looked at me and she goes, Tara, I want to make a difference in this world.
39:32
I almost crashed into a palm tree!
39:34
I was, whoa, that was so inspiring.
39:38
And I was thinking, her junior year, she was in pre-med.
39:43
She's a doctor now in palliative care.
39:46
I'm sure she's a fabulous doctor.
39:49
But her junior year I was in my office, she came running up.
39:52
It was during summer, she was doing an internship at the hospital, and she goes, Tara, I was in the emergency room today.
39:59
I saved some Somebody's life, I said you have many different.
40:03
>> Wow, it's incredible to hear these stories and how you followed your players through the years.
40:08
>> I've got about 1200 more.
40:09
>> Okay, well, we don't have time for those but we would love to hear them, which brings me to what's next for you?
40:15
You just retired after 40 years of coaching, why did you decide to retire now and what are you going to do next?
40:21
>> I just felt it was time and Kate, kind of, Kate was sitting in my office all the time so I thought well she's ready to be the head coach.
40:30
She is fabulous and with the kind of going from the I think the Pac-12 to ACC just it was, it felt like a natural break, and this is a great opportunity for her and she will do, I think a fabulous job.
40:44
For me I don't say retire, Shannon, and I say rewire, I'm doing new things, different things.
40:50
And I'm excited about, the opportunity to maybe do some books, maybe a podcast, speaking engagements, and I got call about a possible movie about the Olympic team.
41:04
And so we sign a shopping deal and anyone in here that's, with a Hollywood film house.
41:09
It would be about the Olympic team, that would be fun to do.
41:12
So my first suggestion was let's get Caitlin Clark to play Jennifer in the movie, and have fun.
41:18
And then I said we could have who was it, Ann thanks Ann to play me.
41:27
>> [LAUGH] [APPLAUSE] >> Okay, well send her this video so she knows that you've asked, yeah, before we turn it to audience Q&A, I have one more question for you.
41:44
Our theme for this year's View from the Top is Redefining Tomorrow.
41:47
If you could wake up tomorrow and redefine one thing about the future, what would it be?
41:53
>> I'm glad you gave me a head start on that question, Shannon.
41:57
The one thing I would really like, and I'll challenge you all, is that everyone be a great teammate.
42:05
And one of the things that when I worked with Kirsten, we had gone through a very painful year.
42:14
We had underachieved and, and things just, didn't feel the way that they wanted to feel.
42:19
And she said, she asked me the question, she said, Tara, what are you afraid of?
42:24
And I'm thinking to myself, I'm not afraid of anything.
42:27
But, I really thought about that and I think that if we all make a really concerted effort to be a great teammate, so what is a great teammate?
42:40
It's someone you can depend on, it's someone that really cares about you that encourages you, that is, that always has your back, that you trust and you respect and they trust and respect you.
42:52
Someone that's mature, all the things, they're resilient, they're determined.
42:58
And think of all the things that, how we could all be better people.
43:02
And if we just do it and it's contagious, if we're a good teammate towards whoever we meet.
43:10
And one of the things I think that was really important, being a good teammate is also forgiving.
43:17
It's not always hanging on to maybe what you feel that you've been wronged or hurt.
43:23
But to forgive and to say, all right, I'm going to give you another chance and I'm going to do whatever I can to make this a great experience, a great year, and that I'm going to be able to look in the mirror and say to myself, I'm a great teammate.
43:38
And that's what I would, I thought I would say and I would ask you the question, what are you afraid of?
43:43
You all have great potential to be great teammates.
43:46
And when you think of so many of the students and so many of the people that are in this room are so accomplished, you can influence other people to be great teammates.
43:55
And so I want to set that example, and I want to challenge myself, and are you all in on that? >> I'm all in.
44:01
>> All right then, all right.
44:02
>> [APPLAUSE] >> Well, we have one final view from the top tradition which is rapid fire.
44:10
So I'm going to say a phrase and you say the first thing that comes to your mind. >> I'll try.
44:14
>> Okay, I have no doubt you will.
44:18
The newest hobby that you're learning?
44:23
>> I'm really perfecting my bridge game, so has a long way to go any bridge experts here I need help.
44:30
>> [LAUGH] You got a few hands. Your favorite tourism?
44:36
>> I would probably say, the S is not for stupid.
44:43
>> [LAUGH] >> Great, if you had a walkout song, it would be.
44:52
>> All right now, or, my favorite song, what's my favorite song? Happy, I love that song.
45:02
>> The best advice you've ever received?
45:07
>> Be yourself, why my parents just say, be you.
45:12
>> And earlier you gave Dean some guidance, but if you could give him one more thing, what would it be?
45:18
>> All right, can you come on up?
45:20
We're very excited about you being our new president and we have a jersey for you.
45:26
>> [APPLAUSE] >> All right.
45:33
>> [APPLAUSE] >> All right.
45:35
>> [APPLAUSE] >> Dean thank you for everything as our dean and as this is your last view from the top, and Tara, thank you for this fantastic interview, this is wonderful. >> Awesome. >> [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC]