Head Coach
Head Coach - Heidi VanDerveer
Heidi VanDerveer was named the head coach of UC San Diego's women's basketball team on May 25, 2012, becoming the school's sixth coach in program history.
In 2012-13, VanDerveer's first season leading the Tritons, the team posted a 22-11 overall record and placed second in the CCAA with a 17-5 mark. UCSD won its first-ever CCAA Tournament title and qualified for NCAA postseason play for the eighth time since joining the NCAA Division II ranks in 2000.
Daisy Feder was named the CCAA's Most Valuable Player, while Erin Dautremont and Emily Osga joined her as league first team selections. Feder also earned Daktronics All-West Region First Team accolades.
VanDerveer came to La Jolla following an impressive stint at Division III Occidental, where she compiled an overall record of 83-26 (.761) and led the Tigers to four straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) titles during her four seasons. She also guided Occidental to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances -- including the program's first-ever NCAA berth in her first season in 2008-09.
VanDerveer went 49-7 (.875) in SCIAC play, amassing the highest conference winning percentage of any coach in league history. She coached three all-conference selections in 2011-12, including SCIAC Player of the Year Makenzie Brandon, who led the league in scoring at 18.1 points per game.
A former WNBA coach, Olympic team scout and assistant for the legendary Pat Summitt, VanDerveer has over two decades of experience at both the collegiate and professional levels. She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant under Summit at the University of Tennessee in 1986 and helped guide the Lady Volunteers to the 1987 NCAA National Championship and another Final Four appearance in 1988.
She then spent six seasons as an assistant at the University of South Carolina from 1988-94, where she helped lead the Gamecocks to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
VanDerveer served as the head women's basketball coach at Eastern Washington University for three seasons from 1994-97, where the team posted a 24-56 record. Her tenure was highlighted by back-to-back Big Sky Conference Tournament appearances in 1995 and 1996.
VanDerveer spent 12 years working in the WNBA, beginning with an assistant coaching position with the Sacramento Monarchs in 1997. She was later promoted to head coach before the 1998-99 season and went on to work with the Minnesota Lynx as both an assistant (1999-2002) and head coach (2002). She was a WNBA scout from 2003-05 and served as an assistant with the Seattle Storm in 2006 and 2007.
VanDerveer moved back to the collegiate ranks as an assistant at the University of San Francisco in 2004-05 and was named the head coach of the program just four games into the season. She ended up with a 10-14 record while leading the Dons.
She also served as the video coordinator for two seasons under her Hall of Fame big sister in Tara VanDerveer at Stanford and was the associate head coach at San Diego State under longtime Aztecs coach Beth Burns for one season prior to taking the job at Occidental.
In addition to her collegiate and professional experience, VanDerveer worked with USA Basketball as a scout for the 2006 World Championship team and the 2008 World Qualifying Tournament. Most recently, she served as a scout for the 2008 Olympic Team that won a Gold medal in Beijing.
During her career, VanDerveer has coached the likes of Sue Bird, Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie, Diana Taurasi and several other women's basketball superstars.
VanDerveer graduated from the College of Charleston with a Bachelor's Degree in political science in 1986 and went on to earn her Master's in physical education and sports psychology from the University of Tennessee in 1988. She was a four-year letterwinner on the basketball team at Charleston and served as a team captain as a junior and a senior.