The Ultimate Assist: How Mentors and Mantras Have Impacted Heidi VanDerveer's Coaching Career

Luck is where opportunity meets preparation. 

The sign adorned with those words hung in the place where it all began for Heidi VanDerveer: the women’s basketball locker room at the University of Tennessee. It was there that Heidi embarked on her coaching journey, a career which she is still fully invested in 35 years later. 

Heidi, who is currently the head coach of the UC San Diego women’s basketball team, holds those words from the locker room sign near and dear to her heart as she reflects on her coaching career. Although, even more so than that mantra, Heidi values the people and experiences that have led her to where she is to this day.  

When looking at the VanDerveer family, it is unsurprising that Heidi ended up in coaching. Both of Heidi’s parents, Dunbar and Rita, were educators. Heidi described the environment growing up in the VanDerveer household as “very competitive, but also very supportive.” Rita and Nick, Heidi's older brother, still display their competitive edge, posting the scores of their cribbage games on the refrigerator each day.  

“[Tara] was working at Ohio State at the time and said, ‘Either come work for me, work at Tennessee for Pat Summitt, or work at Texas for Jody Conrad,’” Heidi recollected. “Pat and Jody were the two premier women coaches at that time. I wrote a letter to each of them, and I ended up in Tennessee.” 

Heidi served as a graduate assistant under legendary coach and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame honoree Summit. Along with the rest of the coaching staff, they helped the Lady Vols to the 1987 NCAA National Championship title as well as a Final Four appearance the following year. 

After three years as the head coach at Eastern Washington, Heidi left the college ranks in order to embrace a new opportunity: the WNBA.  

“When something is a great challenge, and the WNBA was a great challenge, you want to immerse yourself in it,” Heidi said. “You want to be great in it, and I feel like I saw that as a great challenge and during an exciting time. At that point, the WNBA was such a novelty and the opportunity to work at the highest level with the best athletes and the best basketball players was very exciting.” 

Heidi spent 12 years in the WNBA, splitting her time between positions as an assistant coach, head coach, and scout. The professional ranks taught her skills that she feels translate to any level of basketball, like problem solving and being adaptable.  

Heidi wasn’t fully out of the college basketball realm at that time though, as the flexibility of the WNBA’s offseason allowed her to keep a foot in the door at the university level. During the offseason, she reunited with Tara to serve as a video coordinator for Stanford. It was the first time that Heidi and Tara worked together for an extended period of time – "other than doing the dishes when we were growing up,” Heidi noted with a laugh. The experience was one that still sticks with Heidi today. 

"Tara's staff and the energy that Stanford has taught me a lot about culture and how you treat people,” Heidi said. “I don't try to copy it, but more just understand what the consistent characteristics are and try to develop that and foster that in the environment that I work in at UC San Diego.” 

Beth Mounier, a 2017 UC San Diego graduate, also attested to the similarities of the women’s basketball programs at UC San Diego and Stanford. Mounier, a three-year standout for the blue and gold, interned with the staff at Stanford for a year before returning to La Jolla to take on the video coordinator position. The former guard has received invaluable experience under each of the legendary VanDerveers.   

“The first time I saw Stanford practice, it felt like one of UC San Diego’s practices, just sped up,” Mounier shared. “Between the two programs, there are a lot of similarities. We run the same offense and much of our practices are similar like layup lines, stretching and overall breakdowns.”  

Mounier grew up admiring Stanford women’s basketball, in which coaching alongside one of the greatest of all time was special for the Woodland Hills native. 

“The opportunity to coach under Tara and see how she studies the game of basketball and thinks through situations – all the Xs and Os – and to be part of a culture that she and her staff has built and maintained was amazing.  

“You get to see what a championship culture looks like every single day at Stanford,” Mounier said. “You get to see the level of detail and preparation that is required to sustain that level of success. The entire coaching staff – Tara, Hana Potter (former Stanford video coordinator), Eileen Roach – are all the best at what they do. It was incredible to see up close what a program of that caliber looks like.” 

Throughout her time with both VanDerveers, Mounier noted their strong bond. 

“Heidi and Tara are family and they talk every single day. They bounce ideas off one another and collaborate daily. It is really something special. 

“They are great coaches, but even better people,” Mounier added. “There is no job that is too big for [Heidi or Tara] and no job that is too small. Tara would wipe floors, while Heidi folds envelopes – they do whatever it takes to make the program run the right way. Working for both of them could potentially give me opportunities down the road, but more importantly, seeing them handle their elite level of success and putting in the work every day, and being good people, will go far beyond any coaching opportunities in the future.” 

Following Heidi’s stint with Tara at Stanford, she spent time coaching in the college realm throughout California. She worked at the University of San Francisco and San Diego State before taking on the head coach job at Occidental in 2008. Heidi coached there until 2012, when she landed at UC San Diego. The transition wasn’t a struggle for her, as Heidi noted important similarities between the two universities. 

“UC San Diego and Occidental are both great places,” Heidi reflected. “To be able to coach at excellent institutions with great support from administrations that value women, value women in positions of power, and value women’s athletics is a big deal. I have coached with some fabulous people like Betsy Butterick at Occidental, and now I’m grateful to coach with an incredible staff at UC San Diego.”  

Among the reasons that Heidi chose to come to UC San Diego was the school’s prestigious academic reputation. Heidi noticed upon arriving at UC San Diego that her players weren’t desperate for motivation as they were already highly motivated on the court and in the classroom; instead, they needed to be challenged and mentored. 

“I have coaching friends that spend a lot of time on discipline and begging people go to class and that's not something that is in my DNA,” Heidi said. “The opportunity to get an education is priceless and we take it very seriously, so I think it’s a great fit. I think that my personality fits the ideology of UC San Diego.” 

At the time Heidi took the helm at UC San Diego, the university was competing at the NCAA Division II level. She led the Tritons to many years of success with the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), including first-place finishes in each of the team’s last five years with the conference, four CCAA Coach of the Year awards, and three CCAA Tournament titles. 

Now, less than a decade after starting at UC San Diego, she has witnessed the transition to Division I before her own eyes. 

“I remember when I took the job, [Athletics Director] Earl Edwards said our goal was to be Division I, but would it change the way I felt about the job if it didn’t happen?” Heidi recalled. “I said no. It’s still UC San Diego; it’s a great school and a great opportunity. 

“Then we went through the referendum and the moving parts of joining the Big West, and then to actually have it happen, I was just like ‘Wow!’ I credit the direction of the university, Chancellor Khosla, Earl, Wendy [Taylor May], and the administration. To have that vision and see it come to fruition is amazing.” 

The Tritons recently concluded their first year competing at the Division I level. UC San Diego recorded its first-ever Division I win with a 74-63 victory over Big West Conference rival Cal Poly on Jan. 2. The team finished the year with a 6-9 record, while Sydney Brown and Tyla Turner earned the program’s first All-Big West Conference accolades. 

Aside from the Division I transition, the team also dealt with numerous changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic impacted the team’s view on the historic year. 

“We were excited about getting the first Big West win and first Division I win, but we also have the perspective of being glad we were able to compete in an environment where people were unsure of whether we would be competing this year,” Heidi reflected. “It was a surreal year.” 

On top of recording the first Division I and Big West win, there was another special milestone during the 2021 season. With a 74-67 win at UC Riverside on Jan. 20, Heidi collected her 300th career win. The milestone led Heidi to reflect on her coaching career and the value of the support from her loved ones and mentors. 

“The success is never easy and it’s defined in a lot of ways, but when you know that they’re going to love you no matter whether you win 300 games or you’re losing, it gives you the freedom to be yourself and to take chances,” Heidi shared. “Tara’s unconditional support is one example. I know I can always call her, or Brian Agler, or any of my mentors. The trust they have and the confidence they have in you helps you stay the course when things are tough.”  

Next year, Heidi will look to continue building on the strong foundation the Tritons laid in their first year of Division I. As with her whole career, Heidi won’t be going it alone; between her family, mentors, and coaching staff, she knows she has a multitude of supporters by her side.

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.

Return To Sport… Safely
In order for UC San Diego scholar-athletes to be permitted to return to training and competition safely and within federal, state, local, and university guidelines, the athletic department implemented a number of measures designed to complement and enhance the university's highly-successful Return To Learn program. Notable actions include being physically distanced when practical, including during out-of-season training sessions; wearing masks, except when undergoing physically strenuous exercise; and maintaining proper hygiene. Athletes, coaches, and staff are testing at a higher frequency than the campus population, teams adhere to CDC, NCAA, and Big West Conference guidelines, and department officials participate in regular meetings with conference and university-affiliated physicians and the UC San Diego emergency operations staff.