The Phyllis Bailey Career Achievement Award is designed to pay tribute and to extend recognition to those individuals who, through their careers, have contributed to the honor and fame of The Ohio State University through the field of athletics by continuing to demonstrate, in their daily lives, the values learned in intercollegiate athletics and have continued the advancement of women's athletics.

2011 Winner Tara VanDerveer (c) with Belinda Quisenberry (l) & Phyllis Bailey (r)

Tara VanDerveer - Stanford University Women’s Basketball Head Coach Tara VanDerveer is regarded as one of the most well-respected and dynamic women’s basketball coaches in the country. In her 32-year career VanDerveer has accumulated an impressive 826-198 (.807) record. She is one of only six NCAA women’s basketball coaches to win at least 800+ games. While at Stanford she has won two national championships, appeared in the NCAA Final Four nine times, won nineteen conference titles, and was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year ten times. In 1996 Tara was the head coach that led the U.S. national team to a 60 – 0 record complete with a gold medal in the Atlanta Olympics.

Included among Tara’s coaching accolades:

• 2011 WBCA Division I Women’s Basketball coach of the Year
  
• 1996 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year
  
• 1996 USOC Elite Basketball Coach of the Year
  
• 1995 Amos Alonzo Stagg Coaching Award by the United State Sports Academy
  
• 1990 U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Coach of the Year
  
• 1990 Naismith National Coach of the Year

Tara first assisted Ohio State between 1976 and 1978 as a volunteer coach for the JV team. At the same time she obtained her master’s degree in sport management while working at the recreation center. After a three year stint as the head coach at Idaho she returned to Ohio State in 1980 as the head coach. She led Ohio State to national prominence from 1980-85, as the Buckeyes went 110-37 (.748) overall and 55-5 (.917) in the Big Ten during her tenure. During that time, the Buckeyes won four Big Ten Championships (1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85), compiled four consecutive 20-win seasons and made three NCAA Tournament appearances (1981-82, 1983-84, 1984-85). She was twice named Big Ten Coach of the Year (1983-84, 1984-85) during her tenure in Columbus.

Tara is a 1975 undergraduate of Indiana University, where she was a sociology major, dean’s list student, and eventual Hall of Fame inductee, going into the Indiana University Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2002 she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee, and last month she was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.