Meet Tara VanDerveer’s Stanford successor: Kate Paye

Late Tuesday night, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer announced her retirement in a surprise social media post. What wasn’t surprising was seeing Kate Paye named as VanDerveer’s successor.

Paye, 50, won an NCAA Tournament championship as a guard on VanDerveer’s Cardinal squad in 1992 and was an assistant coach when the Cardinal won the 2021 title. She’s been on Stanford’s staff since 2007, including the past eight seasons as an associate coach. VanDerveer will retire May 8 but will remain in the athletic department in an advisory role, the school said in a statement. Paye and the university are negotiating the contract.

Tara VanDerveer, the winningest head coach in NCAA history, announced her retirement after 38 seasons at Stanford.

In 45 years as a head coach, VanDerveer amassed a record 1,216 victories. pic.twitter.com/h7TNAR3D3k

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 10, 2024

Stanford has enjoyed sustained success during Paye’s tenure, advancing to the tournament title game three times and reaching the Final Four nine times.

Paye has been mainly tasked with overseeing defense and working with perimeter players. She has developed standouts such as Lexie Hull, Hannah Jump, Kiana Williams and Karlie Samuelson and was instrumental in recruiting Nneka Ogwumike, Chiney Ogwumike and Haley Jones. She has produced six guards selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft.

Paye was named the Division I Assistant Coach of the Year in 2022 and 2024 by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

The Cardinal have won four of the last five Pac-12 regular-season titles. They finished this season with 28 wins, a loss to USC in the Pac-12 tournament championship and a Sweet 16 appearance. They’re losing standout post player Cameron Brink as well as Jump. But the offense is expected to flow around Kiki Iriafen.

Paye will be ushering Stanford into a new era in multiple ways, including the Cardinal’s entrance into the ACC as the current state of the Pac-12 dissolved.

Paye’s Stanford roots run deep. She was born at Stanford Hospital, and several family members were athletes at the university: Her dad and brother were lettermen for the football team.

She was a standout defensive player and two-time team captain.

In 2003, she earned a doctorate and master’s degree in business administration from Stanford. Paye briefly worked as an attorney before returning to basketball.

Paye played professionally for the Seattle Reign, Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm. She also served as an assistant coach at San Diego State (1995-96, 2005-07) and Pepperdine (2004-05) before joining VenDerveer in 2007.

(Photo of Tara VanDerveer and Kate Paye: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)