Stanford has named Tara VanDerveer’s replacement a week after the record-setting basketball coach revealed she was retiring, although Tuesday’s announcement that Kate Paye will lead the program came as no surprise and was never in doubt.
Paye, who was born at Stanford hospital, is a former Cardinal team captain and served on VanDerveer’s coaching staff for 17 seasons, officially was named Stanford’s head coach in a release by the school. Paye’s impending promotion was initially noted in the second sentence of the school’s April 9 release announcing VanDerveer’s retirement after 38 seasons at Stanford, and then openly discussed before, during and after VanDerveer’s retirement news conference the following day.
“She’s paid her dues,” VanDerveer said of Paye during her retirement news conference. “She has been incredibly loyal. I just cannot say enough good things about her.”
Paye, 50, has been part of two of Stanford’s three national championships – as a player on the 1992 team and an associate head coach for the 2021 squad. She has twice been named the WBCA Assistant Coach of the Year and has been VanDerveer’s associate head coach since 2016.
“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 a release issued by the school on Tuesday. “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 (Stanford director of athletics Bernard Muir) 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.”
Stanford has scheduled an introductory news conference for Paye on Wednesday.
In the release, Muir said, “Kate is the perfect person to undertake the challenge of leading Stanford women’s basketball into the future. 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.”
Stanford is coming off a 30-6 season that included a trip to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. But the Cardinal is facing a transition season from top to bottom. As well as the coaching change and a move from the Pac-12 Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference next season, only nine players — two starters — are set to return from this season’s team. Kiki Iriafen, a likely preseason national player of the year candidate, entered the transfer portal days after VanDerveer’s retirement announcement and isn’t expected to return.
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“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 school release. “She has long been ready for this opportunity. I have loved working with Kate and appreciate her loyalty, work ethic, knowledge of the game and commitment to our student-athletes. I have complete confidence in her ability to lead Stanford women’s basketball in this new and challenging athletic landscape and know she will achieve great success as head coach.”
Since Paye joined the Cardinal coaching staff in 2007, Stanford has an .858 winning percentage (527-87), has reached the national championship game twice (winning in 2021), played in nine Final Fours and has only missed the Sweet Sixteen once.
Paye, who went from walk-on to team captain with the Cardinal, played in the ABL and WNBA as well as holding assistant coaching positions at San Diego State and Pepperdine. She also worked as a corporate attorney for Palo Alto-based Cooley Godward LLP before joining VanDerveer’s staff in 2007.
Kate and her wife, Raquel, have three children, Cass, Anne, and Lauren.