Amy Tucker’s retirement from coaching, and her move to an administrative role within the Stanford women’s basketball program, marks the end of 32 years on the sideline in Maples Pavilion.

For 31 years Stanford fans knew that when they looked to the Cardinal bench there would be head coach Tara VanDerveer and Tucker guiding the team to incredible success. And for one season she led the team as interim head coach, reaching the 1996 Final Four while VanDerveer coached the national team to a gold medal at the Olympics in Atlanta.

Stanford won 889 games with Tucker as a coach.

“Amy’s contributions to Stanford’s success have been immense,” VanDerveer said in a statement. “She’s incredibly knowledgeable about the game and is a wonderful teacher – able to effectively communicate what she knows to all the players that have worn a Cardinal uniform. Her work ethic is second to none and she has an amazing eye for talent as well. Amy really found the players to put Stanford women’s basketball on the map.”

It is not an exaggeration to describe Tucker’s legacy at Stanford as that of a founding member of one of the modern-day pillars of college women’s basketball. Her place in the pantheon of Stanford coaching history is secure.

And Tucker is confident she made the decision at the right time to step away from coaching.

“It has been a fabulous run and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” Tucker said. “It’s going to take some time to transition into my new position. It’s not hard now, but obviously when practice starts in the fall, and when games begin, then I’ll be a little wistful. But I have no doubt the timing is right for me.”

Tucker’s new position will involve several of her current responsibilities, but she said the complete job description is still being developed. For example, she will handle the program’s Nike contract and will work with Stanford’s admission office as a liaison in recruiting. She also is helping to coordinate the team’s summer trip to Italy from Sept. 5-15.

VanDerveer has previously described Tucker as the program’s tireless general manager, but it was important for the longtime coach to detach herself from the athletic calendar. It’s a fact of coaching life that a year is structured around a season and different recruiting windows.

She looks forward to traveling, especially to visit family back in Ohio.

As is the case for many coaches, thoughts of calling it a career were driven by a question: Am I able to approach the behind-the-scenes work of basketball the same way I used to?

“Gradually throughout this year I put some thought into it and some of it is internally you get a sense -- the highlight for me has always been practice, and working with our players in practice, and sitting on the bench putting together the puzzle of how to beat teams,” she said. “But at some point when maybe I didn’t have the same energy I wanted to have for practice, or the amount of work you have to put in watching video to get ready for an opponent, I just started thinking maybe it’s time to move on.”

There were moments throughout the season when Tucker would think, “This might be my last trip here.” And at each benchmark of the season she found herself glad to be sharing those experiences with this squad.

This was in many ways a unique team and season for the Cardinal. In the storied history of 13 Final Four trips this was Stanford’s first team to do so without an All-American. And for Tucker, who has been the director of Stanford’s recruiting efforts for most of her time on The Farm, it was a rewarding challenge to win with a group of players who embraced that their sum was greater than the individual pieces.

“Each step along the way for me personally it made everything more special,” she said. “Winning the Pac-12 tournament in Seattle was special. We weren’t supposed to win it. And winning the regional championship and beating Notre Dame was one of the highlights of my career. It was such a great win for our team. And I could not have been happier for those kids and our staff. It was magical in a way.”

Reaching the Final Four for the seventh time in 10 seasons was inconceivable when Tucker and VanDerveer arrived at Stanford. After finishing her playing career as the then No. 2 all-time scorer for Ohio State, Tucker became a graduate assistant for VanDerveer in 1983. She was promoted to assistant coach the following year, and the Buckeyes made the Elite Eight in 1985.

So, when VanDerveer told her staff she was considering the Stanford job the reaction was disbelief.

“We looked at her like she had horns coming out of her head,” Tucker said. “We had just made it to the regional final game and one game away from the Final Four with all this talent returning. Why would you do that?”

They didn’t think VanDerveer was serious. But, two trips to Stanford later, the head coach of an emerging giant decided to take over a dormant program.

“Then she offered me the job to come out there,” Tucker said. “It was exciting, but it was also terrifying. I didn’t know anything about Stanford and had never really been to California.”

Put simply, the program needed a lot of work, but Tucker realized the Cardinal could be successful when recruits such as Jennifer Azzi, Trisha Stevens and Sonja Henning recognized Stanford as a great opportunity and not a basketball dead end.

“Wow, we could be really good,” Tucker said of the arrival of several of the program’s all-time greats. “I didn’t anticipate we’d win a national championship in five years. It was just like, ‘This is going to work out.’

“Really from the get-go I loved living in California. It was a very easy transition. I never liked the cold weather. In terms of being happy personally it was a great place for me. I loved it. But of course you want to win. Once the program got going it became a hard place to leave. I never seriously entertained any head coaching positions. I was very comfortable being here.”