A new age for Santa Clara women’s basketball has arrived with the Broncos naming Loree Payne, one of the top young coaches in the nation, as the program’s head coach. Santa Clara Director of Athletics Heather M. Owen made the announcement on Monday. Santa Clara will officially welcome Payne as the team’s head coach at a welcome event on Monday, March 31 at noon PT at the Leavey Center.
Payne joins the Broncos from Northern Arizona where she is the Lumberjacks’ all-time leader in wins with 136. She guided the team to 20 or more wins in each of the last three seasons, culminating in a program-record 27 victories and NAU’s first-ever postseason victory (NCAA, WBIT or WNIT) in 2024-25, and has won at least 10 conference games in each of the last six seasons.
“I am thrilled to announce Loree as the leader of our women’s basketball program,” Owen said. “From her playing days to her two head coaching stints, she is a proven winner through and through while creating a culture that demands excellence both on the court and in the classroom. Loree led Northern Arizona to the program’s first two WNITs and first WBIT, and molded that team into one of the very best in the Big Sky Conference. I have all the confidence that she will bring the same excellence to Santa Clara and elevate our women’s basketball program. This is an incredible day for the Bronco Family!”
A native of Havre, Mont., Payne has a 266-174 (.605) overall record as a head coach between her stints at NAU (eight seasons) and the University of Puget Sound (seven seasons). She was named the 2022-23 Big Sky Coach of the Year after guiding the Lumberjacks to the 2022-23 regular season title.
In her eight seasons in Flagstaff, Payne guided NAU to a 136-116 record (.540) and also set the program record for conference wins with an 88-62 (.586) mark. Her teams advanced to three-consecutive conference championship games from 2021-22 through 2023-24, and qualified for the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in ’22-23 and ’23-24 before earning the program’s first-ever bid to the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) in ’24-25.
“I am incredibly honored and excited to be named the next head coach of Santa Clara women’s basketball,” Payne said. “I would first like to thank President Julie Sullivan, Athletic Director Heather M. Owen and the entire search committee for their diligent work throughout this process. I am also thankful to Northern Arizona University and the amazing student-athletes I had the privilege to coach there. Their hard work, commitment, and belief in our shared vision have had a profound impact on me both personally and professionally.”
NAU’s last three seasons under Payne’s leadership were particularly impressive. The Lumberjacks posted 20 or more wins and increased their win count each year with 21 wins in 2022-23, 25 in 2023-24 and 27 in 2024-25. NAU won 70 percent of their games over the stretch, including an outstanding 81.5 percent of their conference games (44-10).
In 2022-23, the Lumberjacks won a share of the Big Sky regular season championship for the first time since 1997-98 and qualified for the WNIT for the first time in program history. The following season saw NAU set a new program record with 25 wins en route to a second-straight WNIT appearance. That 2023-24 squad was a perfect 4-0 against WCC competition with wins over Portland, San Francisco, Pepperdine and Pacific.
Payne’s 2024-25 squad yet again broke the wins record with 27, set a program record for conference wins with a 16-2 mark and picked up a 71-69 victory over Arizona in the opening round of the WBIT for the program’s first-ever postseason victory. The Lumberjacks boasted 11 wins in nonconference play which included road victories at New Mexico, Pacific and Colorado State, and a 92-75 home win over Arizona.
Under Payne’s tutelage, 14 different Lumberjacks earned a total of 22 All-Big Sky honors, including six first team selections. Four players from the 2024-25 squad earned accolades with Taylor Feldman and Sophie Glancey being named unanimous First Team selections and Saniyah Neverson earning the conference’s Top Reserve of the Year Award.
“Santa Clara women’s basketball has a rich tradition, and I can’t wait to build on their success, inspire our student-athletes, and cultivate a championship culture,” Payne said. “With a strong core of experienced returners, a talented incoming class, and strategic additions from the transfer portal, we are poised to field a highly competitive roster for the 2025-26 season. Exciting things are ahead for this program, and my family and I can’t wait to become part of this tremendous community. Go Broncos!”
Prior to NAU, Payne had an outstanding seven-year stint at Puget Sound where she was a two-time Northwest Conference (NWC) Coach of the Year and a finalist for the WBCA Division III National Coach of the Year in her final season (2016-17). Her teams consistently featured one of the nation’s top scoring offenses culminating with the Loggers finishing the 2016-17 season No. 6 nationally at 79 points per game. She finished her time with Puget Sound with a 130-58 (.691) overall record and 78-34 (.696) mark in conference play, and coached a total of 18 players to All-NWC honors with nine earning first team bids.
Similar to her final year with NAU, Payne’s final season with the Loggers was among the best in the school’s history. They racked up a school-record 26 wins against just three losses and captured their first-ever outright regular season NWC Championship with a perfect 16-0 mark in league play.
A two-time All-Pac 10 First Team selection, Payne had a decorated playing career for the Washington Huskies from 2000-03 where she averaged 14.4 points per game and helped lead the Huskies to two NCAA Tournaments, including an Elite 8 appearance in 2001. She finished her career as the program’s seventh-leading scorer with 1,675 career points and the all-time leader in 3-pointers (now third behind Kelsey Plum and Jazmine Davis) with 245.
Payne’s coaching career launched immediately after hanging up her sneakers, beginning with stints as an assistant at Northwest Nazarene (2003-04) and Portland (2005-07), before landing back with her alma mater for a three-year stint as the Huskies’ assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2008-10.
Payne is originally from Havre, Mont., where she was a 2009 inductee into the Montana High School Association Hall of Fame. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Washington in 2003 and her Master’s in Educational Leadership from NAU. She and her wife, Penny, are the proud parents of a Shih Tzu named Jaxson, who is social media famous with over 66 thousand followers on TikTok.
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