JR Payne will become the new head coach for the Colorado Buffs, per multiple sources. She also was offered the head coaching positions at Arizona and New Mexico, but ultimately chose Colorado.
Payne joins the Buffs after two seasons as the head coach at Santa Clara. In her first year as head coach, she took the Broncos to the second round of the WCC Tournament. That same year Santa Clara upset an SEC team in LSU for the first time in program history since 1996. With the upset, their overall record was 11-18, going 5-13 in conference play.
This year, Payne led the Broncos to an overall record of 23-9 and 13-5 in conference play. A notable win for the Broncos was beating Stanford on the road. Following the WCC Tournament the Broncos advanced to the WNIT, however, they fell to Fresno State University in the first round, 59-53.
Before becoming the head coach at Santa Clara, Payne served as the head coach at Southern Utah University for five seasons, an assistant coach at Santa Clara for a year back in 2008, an assistant at Boise State University for three seasons (2005-2008) and an assistant back in 2000-2005 at Gonzaga University.