Kate Paye begins her 10th season as a member of the Stanford women's basketball coaching staff in 2016-17.
Since Paye’s return to Stanford in 2007-08, the Cardinal has been one of the top teams in the nation, going 291-41 (.877), reaching two national title games, six Final Fours and the Sweet Sixteen each year. Paye’s responsibilities with the program include working with the perimeter players, overseeing the defense, opponent scouting and recruiting.
Under Paye’s tutelage, the Cardinal’s perimeter players have garnered national and conference awards and recognition and established program and personal bests. Since 2007-08 the guards coaches by Paye have been selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft four times, captured two first team All-America nods, two Pac-12 Player of the Year awards, a Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award and 14 first team All-Pac-12 selections.
Recently Paye guided point guard Amber Orrange, one of just five Stanford players with 1,000 career points and 500 assists, to All-Pac-12 selections in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Orrange was taken by the New York Liberty with the 23rd pick in the 2015 WNBA Draft, becoming the 24th Cardinal and 10th to hear her name called since 2007.
Her work with Kayla Pedersen contributed to the forward’s successful transition from an inside player to a dominant perimeter threat. In 2011, Pedersen was named All-Pac-12 and was an Associated Press All-America honorable mention.
Jeanette Pohlen enjoyed a career year in 2010-11, scoring 14.5 points per game and setting a new Stanford single-season record with 96 3-pointers made. She was named to the Associated Press All-America first team and captured the Pac-12 Player of the Year award. That April, both Pedersen and Pohlen were selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft.
In 2007-08, Paye coached Stanford standout Candice Wiggins to a record-breaking senior season in which the Cardinal guard earned her fourth straight All-America honor, third Pac-12 Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy Player of the Year Award and was the third overall pick in the WNBA Draft. She also played a key role in the development of senior guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, who became Stanford’s first Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and was regarded as one of the country’s top defensive guards.
Paye, who earned the Cardinal’s “Best Defensive Player” award in 1994, has played a vital role in shaping a dominant and aggressive Stanford defense over the past nine seasons. Stanford has held its opponents to its six lowest-scoring seasons over the last nine years and its five lowest shooting percentages, highlighted by all-time lows of 51.9 points per game and a 31.6 field-goal percentage in 2012-13.
She has also been instrumental in the Cardinal’s recruiting efforts which have landed the program numerous top-ranked classes including two top prospects and Gatorade National Players of the Year in Nnemkadi Ogwumike (2008) and Chiney Ogwumike (2010).
Prior to joining the Cardinal staff in 2007-08, Paye spent the previous two seasons at San Diego State, leaving the program as associate head coach after helping 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.
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-12 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 degree in business administration from Stanford in 2003. Paye worked as a corporate attorney for Palo Alto-based, Cooley Godward LLP, before returning to the game of basketball.
She spent the 2004-05 campaign as an assistant coach at Pepperdine, serving as the program's recruiting coordinator and guard coach. She helped guide the Waves to a fourth-place finish in the West Coast Conference and a semifinal appearance in the WCC Tournament.
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 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 have all attended Stanford University.
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 fifth all-time in the school record book with 7,669 career passing yards and fifth 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.