Legacies Begin Now

FOR THE FIRST time in history, two new head basketball coaches will take the court for Stanford in the same season.

It seems odd in positions where longevity have been trademarks. Tara VanDerveer built a three-time national champion and a Hall of Fame career during her 38 seasons as the Cardinal women’s coach. And over the years, men’s coaches like Howie Dallmar and Mike Montgomery are synonymous with Stanford lore and success.

Having two new basketball coaches is unprecedented, but that doesn’t mean there is not a familiarity with the new leadership.

Kate Paye, the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball, has been a familiar face around Maples Pavilion for nearly five decades.

Kyle Smith, the Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men’s Basketball, is new to Stanford, but quite familiar with the Cardinal legacy during his 31-year collegiate coaching career, mostly on the West Coast.

Paye spent 17 years on the staff of VanDerveer, the winningest coach in college basketball history, and it was clear she would head the program one day.

Smith has built programs, taking Columbia, San Francisco, and Washington State to some of the best seasons those programs had in years, if not decades.

Did you know the greatest compliment Smith ever received came from his freshman coach at Alief Hastings High School in Houston? Randy Weisinger, the old frosh coach, said in his Texas country vernacular, “He’s tougher than a leather boot.”

When Smith heard that, he proclaimed, “My tombstone is done! ‘Here lies Kyle Smith, Tougher than a Leather Boot.’

“That’s gospel. There couldn’t be a better thing for any coach to ever say about you.”

As for Paye, it feels like we’ve always known her forever. And, perhaps, we have.

When her older brother, John Paye, was the point guard at Stanford in the mid-1980s, he followed a routine before home games. Perhaps to get away from the chaos at his fraternity house, he’d come home to nearby Atherton, have a home-cooked meal and take a nap.

A few hours before tipoff, he would pick up 11-year-old Kate and drive to Maples Pavilion, and enter through the loading dock. As John prepared for the game, Kate had Maples to herself – her own personal playground – until the doors opened and spectators arrived.

“I liked just watching, and everything about it,” Kate said. “I have really strong memories of those times as a young kid.”

Paye is the daughter of former Stanford football player John Paye Sr. and Anne Paye, who spent most of her 43-year career as an English instructor in the Foothill–De Anza Community College District.

In Stanford lore, John Paye Sr. was a sophomore third-string running back when he entered a 1962 game at Stanford Stadium against Michigan State in the third quarter. On his first varsity carry, Paye took a pitch around left end, got a crushing block by Chuck Buehler and outran two defenders to the end zone on a 33-yard play that gave Stanford an insurmountable 16-7 lead in a 16-13 upset victory over the Spartans and coach Duffy Daugherty.

The first mention of Kate Paye in print was in the May 2, 1976, issue of the Palo Alto Times, when she modeled clothes “from around the world” at a Palo Alto charity fashion show to benefit Mills College, Anne’s alma mater. Kate was two years old.

The next came on May 21, 1986, in the Peninsula Times Tribune. Her under-12 soccer team won the San Jose Earthquakes’ indoor league for the second consecutive year. Paye was one of two girls on the otherwise all-boys’ Umoja team from East Palo Alto, coached by Akil Ajamu. The other was Emily Burt, a future two-sport Stanford standout in soccer and tennis.

The next mention may have been the most telling. In the Times Tribune on June 9, 1987, Mark Gonzales wrote: “Kate Paye, an incoming freshman at Menlo School, is considered to be as talented as her older brother John.”

As far as athletic influences go, there couldn’t have been a better one. Older by nine years, John was a state-record setting quarterback at Menlo School in football, teamed with current Stanford James C. Gaither Associate Head Coach Eric Reveno to win a California state title in basketball, and was a good enough outfielder to be drafted by the San Francisco Giants in baseball.

John started in both football and basketball at Stanford and was on the San Francisco 49ers’ roster for two seasons, though a shoulder injury prevented him from playing in a regular-season game.

“That’s how I grew up,” Kate said. “I have vivid memories of going everywhere to watch John play. As far as athletic influences, it was everything.

“I wanted to be just like him. He was a great big brother. He included me in everything. There are tons of pictures of me on the sidelines from the youngest ages at his sporting events. That was something that our whole family did.”

John Sr. made a football highlight tape of “John-John’s” senior year at Menlo, with the “Eye of the Tiger” as the soundtrack.

“I must have watched that thing 100-200 times,” Kate said. “That’s really how I fell in love with sports.”

For John’s Stanford football games, Anne would arrive at Chuck Taylor Grove eight hours before kickoff in order to secure her favored tailgate spot. Nothing was left to chance.

“My mom threw the best tailgates,” Kate said. “My mom loved to celebrate life.”

Anne especially encouraged Kate in all her interests, and as an academician, knew the importance of education. Anne was the first of her family to attend college. And as an English Literature major, Anne stressed the importance of good writing and taught those skills to her children.

“My mother was an intellectual, but she also admired the physical world and had tremendous appreciation for physical labor,” Kate said. “Her father was a stonemason. She admired people who could do things and create things with their hands … artisans, craftsmen.”

Anne was athletic -- an amazing waterskier -- but never had the opportunities to compete in organized sports. However, she encouraged Kate in all her pursuits. Kate still has a poster, given by Anne, of a teenage girl playing basketball, with a poem underneath about how the girl grew up watching her brother and fell in love with the sport in the process.

The final line is: “And now I’m doing it.”

That was Kate Paye.

“Family is what’s most important,” said Paye, as her eyes began to well up. “That’s really the foundation of everything for me.”

The coaching interest came incrementally. Paye attended Stanford’s basketball camp before when Dotty McCrea was the Cardinal coach, before Tara even arrived. When a session ended, Kate begged her parents to allow her to attend a second session, and even a third.

When Paye played for Stanford, becoming a camp coach was a natural. VanDerveer picked up on it and planted an early seed by mentioning that to Kate. But during her playing career, “it never really was something I ever envisioned at all,” Paye said.

After graduating from Stanford in 1995, Paye targeted a professional playing career in the American Basketball League, the Palo Alto-based league founded and owned by Gary Cavalli, Anne Cribbs and Steve Hams. With ABL set to begin in 1996, Paye took to coaching at San Diego State for a season as a placeholder to stay involved in the sport.

During her six seasons as a pro – three in the ABL and three in the WNBA – Paye gave private basketball lessons to local high school stars such as Rometra Craig and future Stanford standout Sebnem Kimyacioglu. And she worked hard to earn her JD/MBA at Stanford.

Taking advantage of her advanced degrees, Paye began her career as an attorney. She discovered that the corporate world didn’t excite her like basketball did. Paye felt she had to give coaching a try. So, she gave up a law career for an assistant’s position at Pepperdine and dived into everything that went with it – recruiting, scheduling, scouting, player development, facilities, fundraising and, yes, coaching. And she loved it.

That was among in a series of decisions where Paye can point out times in her life when she went against the grain, defying the orthodox to live her dreams:

• Turning down scholarship offers to walk on at Stanford.
• Leaving law to pursue a coaching career.
• Raising two children as a single mother (she now is married to Raquel and is a mother of three).
• Choosing to remain so long at Stanford as an assistant coach and bypassing head-coaching opportunities.

“For my children and for the women on our team, I humbly say that, hopefully, I can be an example,” Paye said. “Make your own path, make your own journey, and make your own choices for what’s going to make you happy.”

EVERYTHING KYLE SMITH learned about basketball, he learned in high school. He said it himself.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Smith is the son of a Vietnam veteran Gary Smith, who was stationed at Fort Bliss, the Army base straddling the Texas and New Mexico state line. But it was in Houston, where Smith settled with his mother, Susan Rosenblum, after his parents divorced.

Smith was a typical latchkey kid. His mother was an educator, teaching kids who repeated kindergarten and early grades because they weren’t ready to move on. She later became a librarian.

“She talks to me like a kindergarten teacher,” Smith said. “Just unwavering positivity. Whether we win or lose, she texts me, ‘You’re the best. You’re the greatest!”

Susan’s patience and heart are things that Smith appreciates more and more as he gets older. It applies to coaching, where experience gives perspective to the pressure to win and advance. And, as a father of three, patience and heart are the keywords in the struggles that come with raising an autistic nonverbal son.

Kyle calls his wife, Katie, a hero, and praises Bo’s caregiver, Emily, who moved from Washington to continue to work with the family.

“I’m a minor player in the thing,” Kyle said. “They are awesome. It’s going to be lifelong … you know, because Bo’s probably not going to be independent. I do what I can. Patience and absolutely small victories … It’s tough and it’s great.”

Smith’s childhood was a product of the times in many ways. The park was that direction. At dark, you came home. Pretty simple.

“You learn to do a lot on your own,” Smith said.

“My dad gets mad at this with my kids, ‘Why don’t they organize themselves and go play’” Smith said. “He doesn’t understand that there’s no one to play with. There was a tipping point where everyone got organized. They’re all overscheduled.

“You could want to go to the park to start up a game, but there’s no one out there. Not even in New York. Trying to find pickup games … I don’t know if that really truly exists anymore. That culture’s gone.”

So, what was it about Smith’s high school experience that made it so influential? At Hastings High, it was coach Rick Shirley.

“He was mean, but in a good way,” Smith said. “It was tough, and he was challenging, but for whatever reason, we wanted to please him."

Shirley had the ability to get the best out of his players. They weren’t the most polished, but they never cut corners. They practiced taking charges. The team practiced at 6 a.m. on Saturday mornings, probably to keep the players out of trouble, Smith surmised.

They did the little things it took to win games.

“We just played harder, we just competed harder,” Smith said. “We had a pride in the program and just knew we played harder than anyone. And we won.

“We were doing things right. I can’t put my finger on it.”

Hastings’ rival was Alief Elsik High, a newer school. Kids in the district were pulled into either school and somehow, Smith said, Elsik seemed to get all the talent.

And yet, “we owned them,” Smith said. “We had that underdog mentality.”

Shirley’s ability to get his team to believe and fight and dedicate themselves is Smith’s quest. If he can get his players to pay attention to detail, put their egos aside, and have pride in the program and in each other … it can work. That’s why those high school lessons continue to carry so much weight today.

Smith realized early in his coaching career that simply recruiting talent without regard to fit or chemistry is dangerous. They have to want to come to a place. You shouldn’t have to talk them into it. That’s why he’s so excited about Stanford. He believes completely in the Stanford mission and in the draw it is for student-athletes who value the things Stanford stands for.

“I always say, every job is hard,” Smith said. “Just some are nicer than others. This is a nice one, but you’re going to be challenged.”

Smith is known for his Nerdball approach, a system of analytics that influences decision-making on the court and rewards hustle plays. But at its core, Smith’s style is about the very non-analytical things that make a team great – attitude, work ethic, pride in your program.

“Bet on yourself in life,” Smith said. “Don't be afraid to fail. Lay it on the line.”

Simple. He learned these lessons in high school, after all.

In his first weeks on the job, Smith had six players. There’s not a lot you can do on the court with six. But Smith took that as an opportunity to instill his program’s way of doing things – the this-is-how-you-put-on-your-socks John Wooden type of introduction that he hoped the six would teach the freshmen and transfers when they reported down the road.

For Smith and Paye, it’s their turn. Stanford basketball is in their hands. 

The legacies begin now.