Natalie Payne: Coach/Contributor Award by Phoenix Stevens
When Daviess County Head Coach Natalie Payne took over the Lady Panthers program this past offseason, she was tasked with turning around a squad that went just 14-17 last season. Many expected a rebuild, but no one knew it would come this fast. Well, maybe one person knew. Coach Payne herself.
“Our players have bought into our system, and they are trusting the process,” Payne explained. “When you have players that buy into their role, and they show up every day willing to do their job, it makes my job easy. It’s been a blessing, coming back to Daviess County, helping to lead this group of girls.”
She added, “Our defense is high priority, and as a collective group, we believe that defense wins games. We have a group of 20 girls that want to be coached, they want to be pushed, and they are willing to sacrifice for the betterment of the team daily.”
This isn’t Payne’s first stint at Daviess County, however. “I have been coaching high school girls basketball for 21 years,” she mentioned. “I was the previous head coach at Daviess County from 2012-2015, then I took over the program at Apollo High School for 7 years only to find my way back to Daviess County this season. My husband is an assistant coach for the boy’s team here at Daviess County, so it has made my life a little easier with us being at the same school.”
In her previous four-year run at Daviess County, Payne went 72-47 as the leader of the Lady Panthers. At Apollo, Payne coached the E-gals to a cumulative 96-80 record.
While Payne is known around the 3rd region for her coaching prowess, she’s known as a mother and wife away from the court.
“I have four kids, Jack (19), Kaden (15), who is a sophomore on the boys team here at Daviess County, Kylie (9), and Eva (7). I currently coach Kylie and Eva on a 4th grade feeder team on the weekends, so needless to say, we stay very busy, but we love it, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Plus, before her days on the sidelines, Payne was a prolific Division-I ball player who even got to spend some time playing overseas.
“Basketball has always been a huge part of my life since I was a little girl,” Payne said. “I was fortunate to play for Western Kentucky University, and then spend some time playing overseas in Finland before I began coaching and teaching.”
Making the transition to coaching when you spent so many years with the ball in your hands is interesting, to say the least. It can be difficult to translate everything you learned from the game into good coaching, but Payne has developed a solid recipe in order to be a successful leader.
“I am a firm believer that your players need to know that you believe in them #1. When your players know that you truly care about them on and off the court, they are willing to sacrifice and commit to becoming a part of something that is bigger than themselves.”