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Kate Paye begins her third season as a member of the Stanford women's basketball coaching staff in 2009-10. In her first season on the Stanford staff in 2007-08, Paye was instrumental in helping the Cardinal make its seventh Final Four appearance and third in the national title game. On top of recruiting and opponent scouting, Paye serves as the Cardinal's perimeter coach and oversees all aspects of the perimeter game. Paye coaches Stanford standout Candice Wiggins to a record-breaking senior season in which the Cardinal guard earned her fourth straight All-America honor, third Pac-10 Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy Player of the Year Award, and was the No. 3 pick in the WNBA Draft. Teaming up with former Stanford teammate and current fellow assistant coach Bobbie Kelsey, Paye, who earned the Cardinal's "Best Defensive Player" award in 1994, also played a vital role in shaping a Stanford defense that ranked second in the Pac-10 by limiting opponents to just 56.4 points per game and a 35.5 percent shooting mark from the field. Prior to joining the Cardinal staff in 2007-08, Paye, a four-year letterwinner with the Cardinal from 1991-95, spent the previous two seasons at San Diego State, leaving the program as associate head coach after helping to guide the Aztecs to the 11th-greatest team improvement in NCAA Division I and the biggest turnaround in Mountain West Conference history in 2006-07. During her tenure at San Diego State, Paye served as the offensive coordinator and conducted all opponent scouting. As perimeter coach, Paye tutored rookie point guard Quenese Davis, who finished the 2006-07 campaign as the MWC-leader, No. 24 national overall leader and national freshman leader in assists. Paye also played an integral role in the Aztec recruiting efforts that led to the complete overhaul of the San Diego State program, and has placed the Aztecs at the top of the MWC standings. "I am thrilled to be back home at Stanford and have the opportunity to work with Tara and one of the premier programs in women's basketball," says Paye. "I love working with the special caliber of student-athletes at Stanford and being part of the culture of hard work and unselfishness that defines Cardinal basketball." 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-10 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. 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 of Business Administration degrees from Stanford in 2003. Paye worked as a corporate attorney for Palo Alto-based, Cooley Godward LLP, before returning to basketball as a coach. Prior to her second appointment at San Diego State, Paye spent the 2004-05 campaign as an assistant coach at Pepperdine guiding the Waves to a fourth-place finish in the West Coast Conference and a semifinal appearance in the WCC Tournament, while serving as the program's recruiting coordinator and guard coach. 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. In her six-year professional career, Paye played with and competed against some of the top players in the world, including Katie Smith, Sue Bird, Lauren Jackson, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoopes. She also worked with some of the most accomplished coaches in the college and pro ranks including Anne Donovan, Brian Agler and Lin Dunn. In addition to being born at Stanford hospital, Paye's entire immediate family, including mother, father, brother, and sister have all earned degrees from Stanford. Both Paye's father and brother, each named John, lettered as members of the Stanford football team. Her father lettered in 1962, while her brother, Stanford's starting quarterback from 1983-86, currently ranks third all-time in the school record book with 7,669 career passing yards and fourth overall with a career mark of 7,539 yards of total offense. The younger John also earned three letters as a point guard with the Stanford men's basketball team from 1984-86. | |||||||||||||||
