Tara is a three-year letter winner on the IU women's basketball team in 1973, 1974 and 1975 as a starting guard. She earned invitations to tryout camps for the World Games in 1972 and the Olympic Team in 1974. Tara was a Dean's List scholar at IU for three years and was named Big Ten Coach of the Year at Ohio State in 1984 and 1985. She was Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1995 and National Coach of the Year in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Tara is currently the head coach at Stanford where she coached the Cardinal to the NCAA Championship in 1990 and 1992 and was named head coach of the World University Games Team in 1991 and the 1995-96 USA Women's National Team. Tara is the 1996 USA Olympic Women's Basketball Team Head Coach.