A handful of women’s college basketball teams have dominated the sport for the better part of the past three decades. That’s because Hall of Fame coaches have been in place at some of these schools for years, regularly hanging banners and building dynasties.
Some coaching titans have called it a career in recent years, such as the legendary Tara VanDerveer, but many of the game’s top coaches still have their respective programs contending for national championships annually.
These five teams have won more titles than the rest of the sport combined. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a few of them are still in the mix in March Madness this year.
T-3 South Carolina (3)
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley celebrates the Gamecocks’ 2017 national championship.© Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Dawn Staley has turned the Gamecocks into an annual championship contender, winning three titles across 17 seasons in Columbia. A’ja Wilson led South Carolina to its first title against Mississippi State in 2017. Aliyah Boston powered the Gamecocks to their second championship against UConn in 2022. And in 2024, South Carolina won it all once again. The Gamecocks posted a perfect 38-0 record and knocked off Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the championship game.
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Several starters from last year’s team are back this season as South Carolina looks for its second consecutive title. The Gamecocks earned a No. 1 seed for the fifth season in a row and are in the Sweet 16.
T-3. Baylor (3)
The Bears were at their best under coach Kim Mulkey, who left for LSU in 2021. Baylor won its first title in 2005 against Michigan State in Mulkey’s fifth year on the job. With Brittney Griner leading the charge, Bears went a perfect 40-0 and beat Notre Dame in the 2012 national championship. Baylor nearly repeated a perfect year in 2019, going 39-1 and beating the Fighting Irish once again in the title game.
Under coach Nicki Collen, the Bears have gone dancing each of the last four years, though they haven’t made it past the Sweet 16. This year’s team was eliminated in the round of 32.
T-3. Stanford (3)
Stanford Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer celebrates a win over the Texas Longhorns in the Spokane regional finals of the 2021 women’s college basketball NCAA Tournament.© James Snook-Imagn Images
The Cardinal were a dominant force under VanDerveer, who has the second-most wins of any women’s coach in college hoops history. She led Stanford to two national championships in her first seven years at the school, defeating Auburn in 1990 and Western Kentucky in 1992.
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VanDerveer’s teams lost twice in the title game before the Cardinal won another championship in 2021. VanDerveer retired in 2024 as the all-time leader in wins before UConn’s Geno Auriemma passed her in January. Stanford missed the NCAA Tournament entirely this season for the first time since 1987, VanDerveer’s second year on the job.
2. Tennessee (8)
The Volunteers are still a March Madness regular — they’re in the Sweet 16 this season — but Pat Summitt oversaw the program in its earliest days and made it what it is today. Summitt was Tennessee’s head coach before women’s basketball became an NCAA-sanctioned sport in the 1981-82 campaign. She held that position until she retired in 2012 — at the time, she was the sport’s all-time wins leader.
The Vols won eight titles with Summitt on the sidelines, including three in a row from 1996-98, culminating in an undefeated season. Tennessee’s first championship was in 1987 and its most recent was in 2008, the second of back-to-back titles for the Volunteers toward the tail end of Summitt’s run.
1. UConn (11)
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and Huskies star guard Paige Bueckers.© David Butler II-Imagn Images
The Huskies are the most dominant team in the history of women’s college basketball, and Auriemma has overseen all but their first four seasons. Not only has UConn won a whopping 11 national titles, including three in a row from 2002-04 and four in a row from 2013-16, the Huskies have gone undefeated six times.
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Auriemma (1,246 wins and counting) is the winningest coach in college basketball history — men’s or women’s.
Connecticut has a chance to add a 12th banner this season. The No. 2-seeded Huskies are the national title favorites, led by presumptive No. 1 WNBA Draft pick Paige Bueckers.
Related: March Madness: Winningest Head Coaches in Men’s NCAA Tournament History
Related: March Madness: Men’s NCAA Tournament Career Scoring Leaders
Related: March Madness: 5 Highest-Scoring Performances in Men’s NCAA Tournament History
