Brooks: Payne, Coach T Bring Family Approach To Buffs Hoops

BOULDER – JR Payne met with her new players – the Colorado women's basketball team – for about an hour Monday morning. And by all accounts, the introductory session was a success. But then most of these meet-and-greet, feel-good gatherings are.

It's kind of like buying a new car and for at least one day pushing aside all thoughts of looming maintenance work and general upkeep. CU women's hoops needs plenty of both at this point.

Coaches like to stress how much the creation of a "family atmosphere" will mean to their teams. Which Payne did. But what made Monday's meeting a little different than most was Payne's husband – Toriano Towns – being there.

They were hired by CU Athletic Director Rick George as a package – Payne being the boss, Towns being her right hand man (associate head coach), defensive guru, post players coach and recruiter. It's an out-of-the-box scenario, but Payne-Towns made it work for two seasons at Santa Clara. And before that, they were husband/wife staffers for five seasons at Southern Utah, the longest span in about a decade of the arrangement.

If the Buffaloes players initially were taken aback by it, by Monday afternoon's press conference at the Coors Events Center they had had time to ponder it and digest it.

Seems like a good idea, said freshman guards Kennedy Leonard and Alexis Robinson.

Noted Leonard: "They came in and sat together . . . both of them talked and it was cool to get to know them. They mesh well together. We'll see them on the court together, so that's exciting."

Added Robinson: "She seems like a very genuine person. I like the fact that she has kids (four girls; the oldest a junior at Southern Utah, the youngest a five-month-old) and her husband's on staff. They seem very family oriented . . . I like that a lot."

LEONARD SAID PAYNE, 38, CAME across as "really cool and down to earth. It seems like she's really relationship based, and that's a nice change.  I'm just excited for us all to get in the gym with her."

And, Leonard could have added, it will be good to get on the court with Towns as well. He was on Payne's Southern Utah staff as recruiting and defensive coordinator. Payne describes herself as "really the more mellow one" while Towns is the chest-bumping, high-fiving, motor-always-on type.

"We're the yin and yang," Payne said. While she's frequently asked about a spousal coaching relationship, she said "half of the people don't know we're married. It's very much business, basketball, and we have our own relationships with our players."

Wearing a white shirt, khaki slacks and a Buffalo tie given to him earlier Monday morning by George, Towns stood in the semi-background at the afternoon news conference introducing his wife to the media. She referred to him a couple of times as "Coach T."

He didn't disagree with his wife's depiction of him in the yin-yang staff scenario: "I am the fiery guy . . . I describe it as passion. I am extremely passionate, the kind of guy who runs hot at times, my competitive juices get going. But I'm also the kind of guy who really loves to celebrate the achievements and accomplishments of our kids . . . I'm on fire for those kids."

The question begged to be asked, so it was: With two coaches under the same roof, are hoops spoken 24/7?

"It's just our life," Towns answered. "We're the kind of people, the kind of coaches that are very passionate about what we're doing. So there isn't much of a separation between our family and our professional life. This is what we do, who we are, the fabric of who we are. There are times when we talk basketball at home, but we still try to keep that balance as best we can."

The Buffs' playing style under Payne will reflect her blue collar approach to the game. Her toughness was developed growing up in North Vancouver, B.C., where she played sports with the boys but also found time for ballet. Her father made time to shoot baskets with her, and in time hoops evolved as her "true love."

Her father also is responsible for her being called JR. Those initials aren't drawn from her given name, which is Ali-Marie. Her dad was a fan of the TV series Dallas, which featured villain/snark/tough guy J.R. Ewing. When Ali-Marie was a two-year-old fighting with her older brother, their father tagged her J.R.

Payne kept the nickname, dropped the periods, and has answered to JR since.

SHE WANTS HER CU TEAMS to be the toughest and most disciplined every time they take the court. She also wants to play an up-tempo style, capitalizing on what Towns said was "using our natural resources to our advantage. Playing at elevation is always challenging . . . it's exciting for our own kids to train (at altitude), then to make it a tough environment."

The Buffs' recruiting footprint under Payne will be far-flung.  "Recruiting has become global," she said, explaining that "Coach T" was scheduled to leave the country Monday night in search of potential international prospects. But CU's recruiters won't lose sight of Colorado, California and Western/Midwestern prospects, Payne added.

Thus far, Payne's staff consists of one. Two of former coach Linda Lappe's assistants – first-year hires Jamie Carey and Mike Petrino – were retained while the coaching search was underway. Payne said she "would like to visit" with both.

Payne enters a conference – the Pac-12 – that placed five teams in this season's NCAA Women's Tournament and already has one Final Four participant (Washington) with another possibly earning a berth Monday night (Oregon State plays Baylor). Not much brushing up on her new league will be necessary.

She is familiar with the Pac-12 from playing conference members; this season Santa Clara defeated then-No. 13 Stanford 61-58 in Palo Alto on its way to a 23-9 finish. Payne also played (at St. Mary's) and coached for (at Gonzaga) current Oregon coach Kelly Graves, whom she lists among her mentors and a coach who has proved that family life and coaching can be successfully balanced.

Oregon didn't make the NCAA Tournament, but did advance to the quarterfinals of the WNIT and played at UTEP Monday night.

Given her close relationship with Graves, Payne couldn't resist saying, "Good luck to the Ducks."

And neither could George resist this reminder, "That's probably the last time she'll be saying that."

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU