STANFORD – Kate Paye has a tall task ahead of her this season.
The longtime Stanford assistant coach served with distinction for 17 years on the Cardinal bench, helping Tara VanDerveer as Stanford advanced to eight NCAA Final Fours and won a national championship in 2021.
But it’s Paye’s show now. VanDerveer retired somewhat unexpectedly after the 2023-24 season, leaving Paye as the heir apparent on The Farm. Is she ready for the challenge?
“I had no idea when Tara was going to retire,” Paye said. “The first time the conversation came up was way back in 2011. We had a tough loss in the Final Four. Tara is a legendary coach, and I teased her at one point that I wouldn’t believe that she’s gonna retire ’till I saw her walk into a press conference and actually say it out loud.
“This is her entire life, and this is really her life’s work. It was a difficult decision for her. And Tara is a great mentor and a great friend, and I certainly wanted her to do it whenever the time was right for her.”
Paye certainly has exceptional credentials as an assistant coach. After winning a national championship under VanDerveer as a Stanford player in 1992, Paye began coaching at San Diego State in 1995.
She joined Stanford’s bench in 2007 and rose to associate head coach in 2016, when Stanford made the seventh Final Four of her tenure.
Paye was named the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division I Assistant Coach of the Year two of the past three seasons, most recently after the 2023-24 campaign.
“Kate, her having been here for 17 years has not really been that much of a change, to be honest,” sophomore forward Nunu Agara said. “Obviously, I’m going to miss Tara so, so much. Kate is a lot younger, so she knows the nuances a lot more in terms of NIL and stuff like that.
“She’s different. She’s way different from Tara. Her energy is different. She’s jumping in drills, like, ‘OK, I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna do that.’ I would say she’s taken a lot from Tara in terms of our offense has not really changed as much. But yeah, she’s good.”
VanDerveer will still be around as a program advisor, but she leaves massive shoes to fill in her wake. VanDerveer’s tenure at Stanford spanned 38 seasons, and she finished her 45-year head coaching career as the winningest NCAA coach of all time with 1,216 victories.
VanDerveer called Paye her “security blanket” during her retirement press conference. It’s possible that the roles have now flipped for the two Stanford program legends.
“I don’t know where she’s going to sit in these stands, but she’ll definitely be there,” Agara said. “And I can hear in the back of my head, ‘Nunu, what are you doing? Box out.’ I can hear so many things from her.
“Tara’s done a good job of stepping back. She retired, and she’s like, ’Kate, this is your team.’ She doesn’t really push her head forward, like, ‘Oh, you should be doing this and that.’ She gives a little bit of advice sometimes.”
Many observers across the country will also be watching to see if Stanford can sustain its historical level of success with Paye at the helm. The Cardinal enter the 2024-25 season unranked for the first time since 1999, picked to finish seventh in their first season in the 17-team Atlantic Coast Conference.
Stanford suffered significant player losses as well. Superstar forward Cameron Brink left for the WNBA, foregoing a potential fifth year, and was selected No. 2 overall by the Los Angeles Sparks. Katrina McClain Award winner Kiki Iriafen transferred to USC, and sharpshooting guard Hannah Jump exhausted her eligibility.
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The Cardinal backfilled with two transfers – Santa Clara point guard Tess Heal and Purdue forward Mary Ashley Stevenson – plus a trio of freshmen in guard Shay Ijiwoye and forwards Harper Peterson and Kennedy Umeh.
It’s quite an endeavor for Paye to get such a changed group to coalesce while also dealing with a disruptive move to the ACC.
“Our theme this year is sisterhood,” Paye said. “That’s the bedrock foundation of our program for decades and decades. Unselfish team basketball. The past couple years, everyone knew where we were wanting to throw the ball.
“We have a lot of weapons. This team is sharing the ball really well, and this could be a team where we have a different leading scorer every night, and I think our team is totally fine with that.”
Paye has emerged from the Maples Pavilion tunnel countless times in her playing and coaching career. But on Monday against Le Moyne, she’ll do it for the first time as Stanford’s head coach.
“I’m going to be really excited for our team,” Paye said. “I’ll probably be a little nervous for Tara up there, make sure she’s OK. Through this all, really, it’s all about our team and the players in our team.”