This past offseason, 64 women’s basketball programs saw changes at head coach. Entering this season, these five coaches are under pressure to win now.

The Cardinal claimed a 72-45 win over Pacific, but head coach Kate Paye says there is plenty to work on before they're firing on all cylinders.

Peak newsletter 🧠| This is an excerpt from The Athletic’s weekly newsletter covering the mental side of sports. Sign up here to receive the Peak newsletter directly in your inbox. Since Peak launched, I haven’t come across many people better at talking about leadership than Tara VanDerveer. She’s clear, thoughtful and highly, highly qualified. She won three national championships as the head women’s basketball coach at Stanford. She won a gold medal as the head coach of Team USA. She’s in the Na

In April 2024, Tara VanDerveer, then the NCAA’s all-time leading women’s basketball coach, retired after 38 seasons as Stanford’s head women’s basketball coach. Kate Paye, a longtime assistant and associate head coach, took over as VanDerveer’s successor shortly thereafter. Under Paye, the Cardinal missed the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons, shrouding the historically successful…

After missing the NCAA tournament the past two seasons, Stanford enters the year with no seniors, a demanding non-conference schedule, and a motto it hopes gets it through it all.

The two sisters have already brought a first-ever state championship to Rosemount.