The selection of VanDerveer was not surprising. The USA Basketball organization typically selects coaches for some of the junior teams, to assess who will be most qualified to lead the National Team at the Olympics. This was no exception. VanDerveer had worked with USA Basketball teams in 1986 and 1990, and served as the head coach of the team representing the US at the 1991 World University Games. That team went 8–0 and won the gold medal in Sheffield, England. Two years later, she coached the team in the World Championship qualifying event. She continued at the coach of the National team at the 1994 World Championships in Sydney, where the USA team won the bronze medal. Two months later, VanDerveer coached the USA Goodwill Games team to a 4–0 record and a gold medal at the 1994 Goodwill Games in Saint Petersburg. So when it was time to select the Olympic coach, VanDerveer had coached several USA Basketball teams, including the full national team. The previous involvement of VanDerveer meant she was the obvious choice as coach, but she was initially reluctant to take the position, as she had decided that to do it properly, she would need to take a leave of absence from Stanford. In her words, "When you're representing your country, it's not something you want to mess up." She eventually decided to take the position, and did take the leave of absence, with Amy Tucker and Marianne Stanley taking over the reins at Stanford in her absence.