Over the past few seasons the Battle of the Bay rivalry between Stanford and Cal women’s basketball has featured two people with Stanford connections at the helm of both programs. Tara VanDerveer needs no introduction. She’s been the head coach at Stanford since the 1985-86 season. To give you some pop culture context, Prince and the Revolution released their album Around the World in a Day on April 22, 1985. The most popular song off that album was “Raspberry Beret.” As Tara said dryly the other day, she’s been at this for “a couple years.”
As for Charmin Smith, she’s been the head coach at Cal since the 2019-20 season, replacing Lindsay Gottlieb, who left to take an assistant coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers and now is the head coach at USC. Smith played under VanDerveer at Stanford from 1993-97, helping Stanford reach the Elite Eight her freshman year followed by three straight trips to the Final Four. The 1995-96 season was the year VanDerveer took off to coach the United States Olympic women’s basketball team, so she also spent a year playing under Amy Tucker and Marianne Stanley.
Looking at her now rival opponent, Smith likes what she sees. She sees a team with a ton of talent and a group that VanDerveer seems to especially enjoy coaching.
“Well, they got to beat the Bears [smiling] and Tara always has a ton of talent,” Smith said when asked what Stanford needs to do to win a national title. “I do really enjoy this team. I think they’re a group that she enjoys coaching what I’ve heard from her and I’m sure based on how last season ended or how the season ended for them last year, they have a ton of motivation in trying to get back and have some special moments for themselves.”
As she strives to build an elite program of her own across the Bay in Berkeley, Smith reflects on the lessons she learned from playing under VanDerveer on The Farm. VanDerveer has been a great mentor for Smith and has let Smith know she’s rooting for her success. Smith feels fortunate that she got to be coached by the best in the business.
“Yeah, I think I learned from the best,” Smith said. “She’s just been a great mentor. I know that she’s always pulling for me except for when we’re playing against Stanford and it means a lot. I’m really appreciative for how she invested in me when I was at Stanford and even now in my coaching career and really thankful for all that she’s done for the game as well.”
Looking at her current Cal squad, Smith hopes this can be a real breakthrough season for them. They’re 10-4 overall and 1-2 in Pac-12 play, dropping their Pac-12 opener on The Farm against Stanford.
“Yeah, I think it’s time for us to get going,” Smith at the beginning of the season. “We’ve really worked hard in the portal to get some new additions to add some talent around Jayda Curry and our other veterans. You know, Leilani and Eve, I’m just really excited about having a complete squad that can compete in this conference and I think we’ll be able to win more games this year for sure.”
While losing on The Farm is not what her team wanted, Smith sees a positive in having faced Stanford to open up Pac-12 play. She knows how good Stanford is and that playing them is a great learning experience for them.
“This is a point right here where I’m glad Stanford is our travel partner,” Smith said after the loss. “I’m glad we played Stanford first. I think it’s like hey, this is the standard. This is the standard.”
This isn’t to say Smith doesn’t believe her team can win Sunday’s rematch in Berkeley. She has a lot of confidence in her own team and feels like if they can tweak a few things, they can make it a really competitive contest.
“We have expectations and the things that make me use a word like that [horrendous], because this is a really good team. Stanford,” Smith added. “We can’t let Hannah Jump have wide open threes. We can’t forget to switch on a guard-to-guard screen with Hannah Jump and give her a three. Like, we had goals related to the scout, right? No back doors. They got a back door on us, okay? No threes for Hannah Jump off of certain actions. She got those things, right? Keeping their offensive rebounds under 10. They got 15, right?
"So if we had done all of those things and lost the game, then I would say yeah. Tara and Stanford and that’s great. But horrendous because we didn’t do the things we’re capable of doing. If we do everything we’re capable of doing and this team is just better than us, then that’s when there’s, then you just say okay and we move on.”
In order for Cal to get back to being the kind of program they want to be, they’re going to need to have an elite player. Somebody who they can build their program around. Smith feels like they have such a player in sophomore guard Jayda Curry, who is averaging 15.3 points per game on 38.3% shooting from the field, 33.3% shooting from 3-point range, and 76.7% shooting from the foul line. Curry knows how to get buckets and even when maybe her shot isn’t falling, she never loses confidence, which is a mark of a great scorer.
“I mean, we have games where we struggle in the first half, struggle in quarters, but just keeping the same mentality that the shots will eventually fall,” Curry said of the strong second half performance she had against the Cardinal. “I mean, I had teammates who were sitting there, telling me keep shooting, keep shooting. So, it’s never a thing of like okay, I’m going to stop shooting because I can’t hit a shot. Everybody keeps encouraging me they’re gonna fall, they’re gonna, keep shooting.”
“Now, obviously people are going to know more about Jayda and be preparing for her, but that’s why it was really important that we add some talent, some additions that other people get better so that everything’s not on Jayda’s shoulders,” Smith said of Curry. “But, she’s a force. She’s a presence in this conference, she’s gonna know it better now, right? Like, be a lot more wiser out there and her body’s feeling a lot better, so I expect her to be able to build on what she started last year.”
What makes Smith unique is that she’s been on both sides of the rivalry. She knows how much both sides want to win and also what makes both Stanford and Cal special places. She’s grateful that she has connections to both schools and has had the chance to be a part of both communities.
“Yeah, I think it’s just two elite academic institutions with aspirations to have amazing athletic programs and from a women’s basketball perspective, we’re just striving really hard to get this thing back to where the Battle of the Bay is a really competitive game,” Smith said. “And I’m fortunate enough to have been at both schools. They’re both wonderful places and the people are what make each place special.”
When she reflects on her time on The Farm, what stands out to Smith is the teammates she had. She got to play with some amazing players and people, forming bonds that continue to last to this very day.
“Teammates. Teammates. You know?” Smith said of what stood out from her time at Stanford. “Jamila [Wideman], Bird [Kate Starbird], Ren [Amanda Renteria], Milena [Flores], O Scott [Olympia Scott], Naomi Mulitauaopele; just the group of people that I had the chance to go to battle with every single day. We pushed each other, we were highly competitive, but we cared about each other, and we had each other’s back and I just loved my teammates.”
Every time she comes back to coach on The Farm, Smith is reminded of the good times she had playing for Stanford and the memories that will always be with her.
“I love going home to Maples,” Smith said. “I loved playing at Stanford. It’s always a really cool feeling. And yeah, I’m excited to be at the rival school and it’s a lot of fun.”
In addition to her teammates, something else that Smith fondly reflects on are Tara-isms. Sayings that Tara VanDerveer comes up with to help communicate a certain message to her players. A new one came up in the post-game press conference after their game at Stanford.
“You’ve heard them, you just don’t know that they are Tara-isms,” Smith explained to Jayda Curry and Leilani McIntosh. “T is not for turnover, Talana! Yeah. So she says, she’s saying like the T in your name is not for turnover, right? So, she used to say a lot of times, ‘The S isn’t for stupid!’ Charmin, or something. Like if you’re being stupid, the S in Stanford. The S on your jersey isn’t for stupid. Like that’s another Tara-ism. And so that’s a new one, Talana. That’s a good one.”
When asked if she has a favorite Tara-ism, Smith admitted ‘The S isn’t for stupid!’ is atop the list. Though the question did spring to mind a rather humorous moment they had after a tough loss to Arizona State.
“I mean, ‘the S on the jersey isn’t for stupid’ is the one that came to mind,” Smith said without breaking a laugh. “What else? What other Tara-ism? I don’t know, we had a horrible game against Arizona State one year and this was like when Forrest Gump was popular and she was like ‘You guys are a bunch of Forrest Gumps out there. Stupid is is stupid does!” And that’s a Tara-ism, but that’s what came out in the moment.”
When asked if her name came up in a Tara-ism involving Charmin, the toilet paper brand, Smith was quick to shoot it down.
“No,” Smith said with a bit of surprise. “No, she never, but you know what, because I wasn’t soft!”
“Talk to’em, Char!” Curry said with a smile. “Yeah, Char!”
That exchange truly embodies the kind of relationship that Smith is seeking to develop with her players. As a Civil & Environmental Engineering major at Stanford, she originally thought she was going to build bridges. Now, as a coach, she realizes that she’s still getting a chance to build bridges. Just bridges of a different kind.
“Yeah, I majored in Civil & Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on a construction engineering and management,” Smith said. “So, at first I wanted to build bridges and I think it’s been really cool in that shifting to a coaching career, I actually am still building bridges in a way in trying to help young women get to the next level of their life, whatever that is. Whether it’s playing professionally or whatever professional field they choose to take on. Using me as a bridge for that I think is really important.”
As far as what she most enjoys about being a head coach, Smith admitted there’s a lot of pressures that come with the job and a lot of responsibility. In that sense, it can be a hard job to enjoy. That said, she does treasure the chance to make a positive difference in the lives of her players and help them become their best selves both on and off the court:
“I don’t know if enjoy is [the right word], it’s just a huge sense of responsibility now because it’s all on you and the decisions that have to be made, they’re your decisions no matter what and so you know, that’s a lot of pressure. But I love the opportunity to influence the lives of young people in a positive way and as a head coach, that opportunity becomes even more special and so that’s my goal every day is to help our student athletes feel good about who they are and developing into the best version of their authentic selves.”
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
