As her Pac-10 Champion women’s basketball team seeks immortality in the ongoing NCAA Tournament, head coach Tara VanDerveer received an honor of her own yesterday. The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced VanDerveer as the 2011 NCAA Division I Head Coach of the Year.

VanDerveer has received several national coach of the year awards in her career, but never from the prestigious WBCA. She was the Women’s Basketball News Service Coach of the Year in 1988, the Converse Coach of the Year in 1989 and the James Naismith Coach of the Year in 1990, when she lead the Cardinal to its first national championship.

“It is very humbling to be recognized by the WBCA and by my peers with this honor,” VanDerveer said. “I am very fortunate to get to work with such a smart, hard-working and dedicated team of coaches and players. The dedication that they bring every day both on and off the court is the reason for this program’s success.”

VanDerveer has won a pair of national championships in her 25 years with Stanford (1990, 1992), and has led her team to nine Final Fours. She was named one of 12 finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last month; the announcements for the Hall’s 2011 class will be made in Houston next Monday.