Following the retirement of storied Stanford basketball coach Tara VanDerveer, SLS alum Kate Paye has been named Stanford’s Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball. 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 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 in a press release. “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.”