“There are days when I’m in awe of our players and Tara’s basketball mind,” said the women’s basketball team’s new assistant coach, referring to head coach Tara VanDerveer.
Tempie joined the coaching staff this summer. She replaced Trina Patterson, who left the Farm after two years to join the coaching staff at Old Dominion University in Virginia, her home state.
The affable new coach comes to Stanford from Michigan State University in East Lansing, where she had recently been promoted to associate head coach. Even though becoming an assistant coach at Stanford might be viewed as a step down, Tempie doesn’t see it that way.
She sees it as “an opportunity to work with Tara,” along with associate head coach Amy Tucker and assistant coach, Kate Paye. It is “an opportunity to work with the best, and Tara’s the best. (She) is one of the best teachers I’ve ever seen.” In addition, the “high academics were a big draw for me,” Tempie said in a recent interview.
As for the team – “This is a great group of kids. They’re doing something special to be at Stanford.”
Her duties include scouting, recruiting, and working with Kate to help the perimeter players. Like the other coaches, she works on academics with a group of four players to make sure they’re staying on track. Stanford has an academic resource center for all athletes, but the team’s small group approach is more personalized.
Shortly after arriving at Stanford, Tempie joined the team on its 10-day trip to Italy. Besides playing and winning three games against Italian club teams, the Stanford women took daily tours and had free time. Everyone who could play got a chance to play in those games.
The trip gave everyone a chance to know each other better and gave her a chance to see the players as individuals. Changing roommate assignments was another way for players to interact. “It was a great time,” she said, adding that this was her first trip to Italy.
Another task during the summer was to find a place to live, not always easy in the Bay Area. She has settled in Menlo Park with her dog, Mason, a Vizsla. A photo of Mason running along a beach is Tempie's Twitter profile photo.
Because she lives relatively close to campus, Tempie often walks to work. The campus is “gorgeous. The weather is stunning every single day. People smile more,” she said. After spending most of her life in areas with cold winters, she’s looking forward to the Bay Area’s more benign climate.
Tempie had spent four years coaching at MSU. She has another 10 years’ experience combined at Memphis, Northwestern, Lehigh, Eastern Michigan and Saginaw Valley State. She earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at the University of Michigan in 1990 and a master’s in exercise physiology there in 1992.
While at UM she was a guard on the basketball team and served as its captain for two years. She ranks among the program’s top 15 scorers and among the top 20 in career assists and steals.
Now that she’s at Stanford, she’s looking forward to watching “our team compete and to getting know the players better.” The five freshmen are doing well. “They’re quick learners and great people.” They’re a fun group, but “they do work hard,” she said. “There’s a great camaraderie on this team.”
Although the team has four returning starters – fifth-year senior forward Mikaela Ruef, senior forward Chiney Ogwumike, senior guard Sara James and junior guard Amber Orrange – Tempie declined to name a starting lineup with one exception, Chiney. “She’s a great player and a great leader,” the coach said.
With the team going to five Final Fours in the past six years, fans have come “to expect success, but that’s the mindset around here,” she said. National championships are the goal of every team at Stanford.
“It’s an amazing place. Greatness is the norm,” she concluded.
