The Coaching Couple

JR Payne ’99 was an outstanding basketball player at Saint Mary’s, earning all-West Coast Conference honors and helping the Gaels gain their first-ever NCAA tournament berth. After graduation, she prepared to put basketball behind her. But while Payne was working on a master’s degree in French at San Francisco State, former SMC head coach Kelly Graves invited her to join him as an assistant coach at Gonzaga. And that was that.

Payne has been accompanied on her coaching journey by former SMC football player Toriano Towns ’98, now her husband. They started dating during her sophomore year after meeting while having their ankles taped at Madigan Gym. Towns has been Payne’s associate head coach at three different schools: Southern Utah (2009-14), Santa Clara (2014-16) and, since March 2016, the University of Colorado of the Pac-12 Conference.

While Payne is technically Towns’ boss, the two have approached coaching as a joint venture from the beginning, after they assistant coached together at Gonzaga and Boise State. “Our goal all along once we started coaching was to be able to be in a position to have our own program,” Payne said. “If he had the first opportunity to be a head coach, it would have been him. Neither of us cared which person got the title of head coach, because we’ve always done it together, completely. I’m a much better coach with him, and he’s a much better coach when I’m around.”

The couple agrees their education honed essential coaching skills. “You have to be able to articulate your thoughts and arguments, to have an opinion,” Payne said. “You can’t just hide in the back of Seminar. If I had gone to a big state school and sat in the back of a classroom with 500 students I never would have had that experience.”