STANFORD – When legendary Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer addressed the media during her retirement news conference, she made sure to note that the program would be left in good, and familiar, hands.
Sitting a few feet away on Wednesday from the woman who won an NCAA-record 1,216 games was Kate Paye, her hand-selected successor as the next Cardinal coach.
“It’s a plan that’s been in place for a while,” Paye said. “It’s something I’ve been able to prepare for. I feel like I’m extremely well-prepared, and a lot of that goes to Tara.”
Paye, 50, is the embodiment of the Stanford program.
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Born at Stanford hospital, she won a national championship with the Cardinal in 1992 after walking on as a freshman and was a two-time team captain.
She went on to hold assistant coaching positions at San Diego State and later at Pepperdine, played professionally and worked as a corporate attorney for Palo Alto-based Cooley Godward LLP before joining VanDerveer’s staff in 2007.
Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir said the school plans to officially announce Paye as head coach at some point next week.
“She’s paid her dues,” said VanDerveer, who coached the Cardinal since 1985. “She has been incredibly loyal. I just cannot say enough good things about her.”
Paye’s older brother, John, a Stanford quarterback in the 1980s, recalled a conversation he had decades ago with VanDerveer about his sister.
“I remember Tara called me almost 20 years ago and she told me she was making changes to her staff, and that she really wanted Kate,” John Paye told the Bay Area News Group this week. “She mentioned that Kate would be potentially the heir apparent to her. Now she did say that she was going to stay for a couple more years.”
Paye will usher in a new era for Stanford, one in which the Cardinal will move from its longtime home – the Pac-12 – to the Atlantic Coast Conference starting next season.
The soon-to-be new head coach embraces the challenge.
“We have smart women on our team, and they come to Stanford to get a world-class education and to compete for a national championship,” Paye told the Bay Area News Group. “They’re smart enough to know that we have to be in one of the power conferences to do that.”
Winning championships is something Paye knows all about.
Coached in high school by her brother John, Paye led nearby Menlo School to three consecutive Division V state basketball titles from 1989 to 1991.
Menlo School is 2.5 miles from Stanford, which is obviously home for Paye and her immediate family. They all attended the university.
“She’s had plenty of opportunities to go elsewhere, but this was her home and she loved coaching with Tara and the whole Stanford experience,” John Paye said. “I’m hoping that she gets the job and coaches another 38 years like Tara.”
Being loyal to Stanford despite interest from other parties has been a theme for Paye.
Despite having offers from Cal and East Coast programs when she was in high school, Paye stayed close to home.
She earned a scholarship by the middle of her freshman season, one that included her defense on future South Carolina coach Dawn Staley in Stanford’s Final Four victory over Virginia. The Cardinal won the national championship the next day, 78-62 over Western Kentucky.
By the time Paye graduated in 1995, she was a team leader and everything VanDerveer sought in a player.
“She was Tara’s type of player: gritty, tough, plays hard,” said longtime Pinewood High School coach Doc Scheppler, who has sent standouts such as Hannah Jump and Sebnem Kimyacioglu to nearby Stanford.
A lot has changed since Paye made her name as a tough-as-nails player. VanDerveer cited the 24/7 demands of modern-day recruiting and Name, Image and Likeness endorsement deals as factors for her retirement.
Paye is confident that she has what it takes to guide the program as it navigates a new world of college athletics.
“All coaches have been trying to learn on the fly with all of the changes going on, and change has been happening very quickly,” Paye said. “I feel like we’ve learned a lot, and that we’re well positioned to compete at a championship level.”
Scheppler wasn’t the only prominent Bay Area high school coach confident in Paye’s abilities to lead Stanford.
“I know Kate really well, and it’s time for Kate to step in and take over the reins of the program,” said Carondelet coach Kelly Sopak, whose former point guard, Talana Lepolo, now plays for Stanfod. “I think Kate’s the obvious choice for it.”
Aside from having to adjust to a new conference, recruiting demands and expectations that come with replacing a legend, Paye will need to fill holes in the lineup. Stalwarts Cameron Brink and sharp-shooting Jump are graduating and Kiki Iriafen hasn’t decided whether to enter the transfer portal.
It’s a tall task, but Paye said she’s ready for it.
“I know this athletic department, I know our program, our team and our players,” she said. “So I feel extremely well-prepared and confident in my ability to do the job.”