Gary Payton lands notable head-coaching job in NCAA basketball

Coach Glove is officially getting another go at it.

The College of Alameda announced on Saturday that it has hired retired NBA great Gary Payton to lead its men’s basketball program. Payton will be taking over as head coach for the junior college, which is located on an island in Alameda, Calif.

Now 56, Payton, a native of the Bay Area, played in the NBA from 1990-2007, mainly for the Seattle SuperSonics, but for four other teams later on in his career as well. Known for his relentless defense, Payton was a nine-time NBA All-Star, a nine-time All-Defensive selection, as well as a seven-time All-NBA honoree. He won an NBA championship in 2006 with the Miami Heat and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Since retiring, Payton has gotten coaching experience at multiple different levels of basketball. He has been a head coach in the BIG3 since 2017 and was recently named BIG3 Coach of the Year after helping lead his Bivouac team to the league title this season. Payton has also spent the last three years in the collegiate ranks as the head coach of Lincoln University in Oakland, Calif.

Granted, Payton parted ways with Lincoln earlier this year amid reported disagreements with the university over finances. The job at Alameda won’t be an easy one either as its men’s basketball team went a dismal 7-21 last season in the Bay Valley Conference. But Payton is clearly ready for a new challenge as a head coach, which is an interesting character arc for a guy who once admitted to wanting to kill his own head coach.