VanDerveer sent out resumes to twenty schools, looking for a graduate assistant job, which is an unpaid position. She only got two responses, one of which was for Ohio State, where the athletic director had remembered her from Indiana. To prepare herself, she attended a coaching clinic taught by Knight. When she had attended his practices, she had stayed out of sight, but enrolled in a class, she followed her parents advice and sat up front. One of the coaches asked if she was lost. Knight embarrassed her with one of his questions, but she didn't stop attending, although she moved back a few rows. She was hired as an assistant coach to the varsity and the head coach of the JV.