After a hiring pause instituted by Stanford, women’s basketball head coach Tara VanDerveer announced Tuesday that Katy Steding ’90 and Britney Anderson will join her staff as assistant coaches.
One vacancy has been known since March 18, when UNLV announced it called Lindy La Rocque ’12 away from Stanford with an offer to become their head coach. The other came when Tempie Brown stepped away after seven seasons with the Cardinal to spend more time with her family.
Steding was the first Stanford recruit of VanDerveer and in her senior year led Stanford’s 1990 NCAA championship run. Following her Cardinal career, Steding played professionally overseas before returning to play on the U.S. national team, again under VanDerveer’s direction, where she and the other members of the “Women’s Dream Team” compiled a 60-0 record and won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Steding then joined the Portland Power in the ABL and spent a year each in the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs and Seattle Storm before retiring. In 2002, Steding was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame.
Her vast coaching experience includes head coaching stints with Warner Pacific from 2001-2008 and Boston University from 2014-2018. Between those stops, Steding served as an assistant with the Atlanta Dream, Columbia, California and San Francisco, to which she returned in 2019.
“I have known Katy for 35 years,” VanDerveer said. “Her combination of playing and coaching experience is truly second to none. She is a woman of very high character, with great teaching and communication skills. I loved coaching Katy and am excited to work with her again as an assistant.”
Both of Steding’s assistant coaching endeavors at San Francisco came under former Stanford teammates, first with Jennifer Azzi ’90 and last year with Molly Goodenbour ’93.
“It is a unique honor and privilege to join Tara and the rest of the staff at Stanford,” Steding said. “I was raised as a Cardinal and I’m so grateful for everyone and everything I’ve been blessed with since I made that decision. I’m thrilled to come back to The Farm and once again be a part of Stanford Women’s Basketball. There’s no place like home!”
On the flip side, hiring Anderson brings in someone entirely new to the program. From 2003-07, Anderson guided Virginia Tech to four straight postseason appearances, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament, while shooting 44.6% from the field for her career.
“I have enjoyed getting to know Britney over the past two months,” VanDerveer said. “She joins our staff with a great deal of experience and the highest of recommendations. Britney brings a plethora of skills to our team, including her hard work and determination mixed with high level knowledge of the game. I am excited to welcome Britney to Stanford.”
Anderson has served as an assistant coach for her alma mater the past three seasons, during which the team advanced to the postseason four consecutive years. Previously, Anderson was an assistant at Radford from 2013-15. Before going into coaching full time, Anderson coached girls’ basketball at Potomac Falls High School and in the AAU ranks.
“I am very excited for the opportunity to join the Stanford women’s basketball program,” Anderson said. “I can’t wait to begin to work with a Hall of Fame head coach in Tara VanDerveer, and develop relationships both on and off the court with the women on the team.”
Hopes are high both for the talented returning group that reached the Pac-12 tournament championship this past season and for the incoming freshman class. Top-five overall recruit Cameron Brink, an elite post player, headlines the group.
In that case, Brink would work with Steding, who may fill a similar role to Brown as the post player coach. La Rocque mainly worked with Stanford’s perimeter players during her time on the staff.
Incoming point guard Jana Van Gytenbeek will operate under senior Kiana Williams and sophomore Haley Jones, who is expected to make a full recovery from an injury that forced her to miss the final 15 games of the season. The class is completed by the high-upside Agnes Emma-Nnopu from Australia.
Contact Daniel Martinez-Krams at danielmk ‘at’ stanford.edu.