Van Atta begins his fourth coaching season at Trevecca, where he has led the women's basketball program to new heights. Van Atta, a veteran coach of 22 years, holds an overall coaching record (high school and college) of 501 wins and 238 losses. His four-year college coaching record is 372-182 (NAIA record is 265-75 (.79%). Van Atta has an impressive 100% graduation rate and has coached more than 100 scholar-athletes and 10 Academic All-Americans. During the past two seasons the Lady Trojans have been ranked in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 Academic Teams in the Nation. This past season they were ranked 13th.

Recently, Van Atta was selected by the WBCA to serve as the WBCA Region 5 Coach of the Year selection committee.

He has a career record of 99-26 overall at Trevecca and is 42-14 in conference play in his first three seasons. The former Trojan led the program to consecutive conference tournament championship games, back-to-back Elite Eight finishes in the NAIA National Tournament, and an NAIA Championship game appearance.

In his first season the Trojans finished with a school-record 31-5 overall mark. During that season Van Atta won his 400th career game (high school, junior college, college) and his 300th collegiate victory. In his second season, despite losing four starters and other contributing players, he led a very young team to a surprising 27-7 record, a second-place finish in the tough TranSouth and to the Elite Eight of the NAIA Tournament. His third season saw the Trojans make their deepest NAIA tournament run in program history, as the Trojans advanced all the way to the NAIA title game.

Van Atta is a graduate of Trevecca Nazarene where he co-captained the basketball team in 1979.

Van Atta coached college women at Motlow State Community College, the University of Montevallo in Alabama (seven years), and UT-Martin. In 1999 he was inducted into the Montevallo Sports Hall of Fame after having taken the Lady Falcons to five consecutive appearances in the NAIA National Tournament, including the NAIA Final Four in 1994. He remains the winningest coach in Montevallo history with a record of 166-49.

He left UT-Martin with an eight-year record of 107-110 and is the all-time winningest coach in the Lady Skyhawk record books. Van Atta and his wife, Kim, were co-OVC coaches of the year in 1998 and led the team to the Ohio Valley regular season title in 1999. The 1999 team advanced to the NWIT and reached the Sweet 16 with a victory over Ole Miss.

After leaving UT-Martin, Van Atta went home to his high school alma mater ('74) for one year when he coached the boy's basketball team at Mt. Juliet High School. Van Atta led the Golden Bears to a record of 13-15. In 1987, he coached the Gallatin High girls to a 34-0 record and the Class AAA state championship.

Gary and is wife, Kim (Satterfield), reside in Mount Juliet with their daughter, K.C., who is a member of the Trevecca women's basketball team. Kim was a two-time all-American at Lipscomb University and was the school's all-time scoring leader (more than 2,000 points) when she graduated. She was inducted into Lipscomb's Hall of Fame in 1997. Kim still ranks second on the NAIA's all-time free throw list. The Van Atta's attend Hermitage Church of the Nazarene.