Sport(s) Women's basketball 2000–2005 Gonzaga (asst.) Title Head coach 2005–2008 Boise State (asst.) | Team Santa Clara Name JR Payne Record 0-0 (–) | |
 | ||
Jr payne named cu women s basketball coach
Ali-Marie "JR" Payne (born May 27, 1977) is an American college basketball coach who is currently head coach at Colorado.
Contents
- Jr payne named cu women s basketball coach
- Press conference jr payne announced as new cu women s basketball coach
- Early life and education
- Coaching career
- References
Press conference jr payne announced as new cu women s basketball coach
Early life and education
Ali-Marie Payne was born in Jackson, Tennessee and raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Payne explained her nickname JR: "My Dad used to watch Dallas, and J. R. Ewing was a tough guy, so he started calling me J.R." She attended Windsor Secondary School in North Vancouver.
Payne attended Saint Mary's College, where she would play point guard for the Saint Mary's Gaels from 1995 to 1999. During her senior season, Payne helped lead the Gaels to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. She earned two first-team All-West Coast Conference honor. In 1999, Payne graduated from Saint Mary's with a degree in French, then attended San Francisco State University for a year for graduate school.
Coaching career
In 2000, Payne began her women's basketball coaching career at Gonzaga under Kelly Graves. The team improved from five wins in 2000–01 to 28 wins in the 2004-05 season, including a perfect record in West Coast Conference play. Payne helped recruit guard Shannon Mathews, who would become the first All-American in program history.
In 2005, Payne became an assistant coach at Boise State under Gordy Presnell. During her time as assistant, Boise State won Western Athletic Conference titles two of her three years and made the NCAA Tournament. Boise State finished 24-8 twice in a row, including a perfect 14-0 home record in the 2007-08 season.
In 2009, JR Payne got her first head coaching position, at Southern Utah. In five seasons, Payne led Southern Utah to a record 23-win season, Big Sky Conference regular season co-championship, and first-ever postseason appearance in program history in the 2014 Women's National Invitation Tournament.
On April 6, 2014, Payne became head coach at Santa Clara. Payne was head coach at Santa Clara for two seasons. In the 2015–16 season, the Santa Clara Broncos made the WNIT returned to the postseason for the first time in ten years.
Following Santa Clara's exit from the WNIT, Payne was offered the Head Coach position at the University of Colorado-Boulder (Pac-12), The University of Arizona (Pac-12), and the University of New Mexico (Mountain West).
On March 28, 2016, Payne became head coach at Colorado. The eighth head coach in program history, Payne replaced Linda Lappe, who was fired after a 7-23 (2-16 Pac-12) season.