Kate Paye has been named Stanford’s Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball, as announced by Bernard Muir, the Jaquish and Kenninger Director of Athletics. Paye will be formally introduced at a press conference on Wednesday, April 17, at 3:30 p.m.
The 50-year-old Paye 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. One of the most respected assistant coaches in college basketball and a two-time WBCA Assistant Coach of the Year, she spent 17 years on Tara VanDerveer’s staff and was promoted to associate head coach in 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. “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,” Muir said. “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 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. “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.”
Since Paye’s return to Stanford in 2007-08, the Cardinal has been one of the top teams in the nation, going 527-87 (.858) and winning the 2021 national championship, advancing to two other title games, nine total Final Fours and the Sweet Sixteen all but one year.
A native of Woodside, Calif., Paye was a four-year member of the Stanford women’s basketball team that claimed the national championship in 1992 and advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1995. A three-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection and two-time team captain, Paye scored 743 points and averaged 3.22 assists and a steal per game in her Stanford career.
Born at Stanford hospital, Paye earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford in 1995. She also graduated with distinction with both her Juris Doctorate and master’s degree in business administration from Stanford in 2003. Paye worked as a corporate attorney for Palo Alto-based, Cooley Godward LLP, before returning to the game of basketball.
Out of college, Paye served as assistant coach at San Diego State during the 1995-96 season before going on to play basketball professionally, competing with the Seattle Reign of the ABL for three seasons (1996-98) and later with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm from 2000-02.
Kate and her wife, Raquel, have three children, Cass, Anne, and Lauren.
