College of Alameda tabs NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton as next men’s basketball coach

The College of Alameda has hired former NBA point guard Gary Payton to be its next head men’s basketball coach, the school announced in a public report on Friday. 

The Hall of Fame point guard is an Oakland native and played high school basketball at Skyline High in North Oakland. He was drafted in 1990 to the Seattle Supersonics out of Oregon State.

In the written report shared to the public on Friday evening in preparation for Tuesday’s board of trustees meeting, president Melanie Dixon announced the hire of Payton along with new volleyball coach Justin Hoover.

“Our Athletic Program has two exciting new additions to our coaching team, which will no doubt drum up excitement on the Island,” Dixon said in the report

Payton won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1996, the same year he led the Supersonics to the NBA Finals where Seattle fell to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in six games. 

This won’t be Payton’s first time being a college basketball coach. 

Payton coached at Lincoln University in Oakland for two seasons, but fell out with the school in April after he accused the university of not providing sufficient resources for him and his players, according to a report from USA Today.

“I don’t know that there has ever been a junior college basketball coach hired with Gary’s pedigree,” College of Alameda athletic director Ramaundo Vaughn told the Bay Area News Group on Saturday. “Where else is there a junior college coach that is a gold medalist, Olympian, nine-time All-Star, Hall of Famer, Top 75 Player and a first-team All-American. It was a no-brainer for us.”

Most recently, Payton was named BIG3 Coach of the Year after winning a championship with 3’s Company just a few weeks ago. 

He will be tasked with turning around a College of Alameda team that was 7-21 last season.