On Tuesday, Stanford officially announced Kate Paye as the new head coach of their women’s basketball program. Paye is the fifth coach in program history, taking over for the legendary Tara VanDerveer who announced her retirement last week.
“Stanford University has been a central part of my life for as long as I can remember and I am humbled to have the opportunity to lead its women’s basketball program,” Paye said in the release put out by Stanford. “I’d first like to thank Tara, who has played such a pivotal role in my career for her friendship and guidance. It’s not what she’s done, but how she’s done it, that has had such a profound impact upon me. She has set the standard for basketball coaches everywhere. I’d also like to thank Bernard for entrusting me with the stewardship of Stanford women’s basketball. It’s an incredible honor to lead my alma mater and I will stop at nothing to see that the program’s championship pedigree and its legacy of developing strong female leaders continues.”
“Kate is the perfect person to undertake the challenge of leading Stanford women’s basketball into the future,” Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir added. “She’s an energetic and positive teacher, and dynamic and charismatic personality who knows what it takes to succeed at Stanford. She’s done it herself as a student-athlete and on the bench as a coach for the past 17 years. I am thrilled to have Kate as our new head coach.”
Paye played at Stanford under VanDerveer from 1991-95 and has been on VanDerveer’s coaching staff since 2007 as an assistant coach. In 2016 she was elevated to the role of associate head coach and ever since has been viewed as the most likely person to take over for VanDerveer once she retired.
Right as VanDerveer announced her retirement, Stanford simultaneously announced that negotiations were underway for Paye to be the next head coach, confirming that she was indeed head coach in waiting. At VanDerveer’s press conference last week, it was re-affirmed that Paye was taking the job. Tuesday’s announcement is merely a formality.
As far as my thoughts on the hire, I think Paye is the right person to lead Stanford women’s basketball. She knows Stanford inside and out as an alum, coming from a Stanford family. Her brother John Paye played quarterback on the Stanford football team from 1983-86 and also played on the basketball team as a point guard. She’s been around Stanford for a long time.
On top of being a Stanford lifer, Paye also spent years learning under VanDerveer, who is a legend of the game. She’s seen firsthand what it takes to build an elite program on The Farm. VanDerveer also couldn’t have spoken higher of Paye during her press conference last week, praising her knowledge of the game and ability to teach. If VanDerveer thinks Paye is the right person to lead Stanford and take the reins, that says a lot about who Paye is.
“Stanford women’s basketball is a sisterhood and I’m grateful that Kate was hired to maintain that culture and lead the program forward,” VanDerveer said in the release. “She has long been ready for this opportunity and is the perfect leader for Stanford at this time of immense change in college athletics. Kate was the choice for this job and I am confident she will achieve great success as head coach.”
Paye will have her introductory press conference on Wednesday, April 17th at 3:30 PM PT. It’ll be interesting to learn more about her vision for the program and how she’ll leave her own distinct footprint apart from VanDerveer.
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