05-20-2026, 05:48 PM
Do we think VanDerveer is just going to stay out of it, no matter how badly Paye tanks this thing? This has been a cliff that can't be explained away by Stanford "virtue" over NIL or anything else. Stunning even to casual fans like me. I get that one story circulates and breeds itself on the internet but search for "Stanford Women's Basketball" and the entire page comes back with "unwelcoming and toxic" in every brief.
Right there on the page: "The two former players, who remained unnamed, told The Standard that Paye conducted 'distressing team meetings.' They said she threatened to bench players, which is a normal way for coaches to handle a situation where players are struggling on the court or are not meeting standards, but some players were allegedly also told they were 'too weak' to play for the program. A harsher consequence Paye allegedly floated was 'getting rid of scholarships or refusing to give recommendations for grad school programs.' This is enough to fire for cause if true and if Stanford really stands for what it says it stands for. Was there an investigation? They got rid of Taylor for something bad, although I could argue not this bad, and only after it leaked to the press. Stanford Athletics is no shining city on a hill lately.
I'll leave my idiotic thought above so my idiocy is transparent, but apologize. That was a bridge to far. However, VanDerveer is the one who picked her, so she still has fingerprints on this. And an office.....
Right there on the page: "The two former players, who remained unnamed, told The Standard that Paye conducted 'distressing team meetings.' They said she threatened to bench players, which is a normal way for coaches to handle a situation where players are struggling on the court or are not meeting standards, but some players were allegedly also told they were 'too weak' to play for the program. A harsher consequence Paye allegedly floated was 'getting rid of scholarships or refusing to give recommendations for grad school programs.' This is enough to fire for cause if true and if Stanford really stands for what it says it stands for. Was there an investigation? They got rid of Taylor for something bad, although I could argue not this bad, and only after it leaked to the press. Stanford Athletics is no shining city on a hill lately.
I'll leave my idiotic thought above so my idiocy is transparent, but apologize. That was a bridge to far. However, VanDerveer is the one who picked her, so she still has fingerprints on this. And an office.....