Lindsey Payton joined the Academy of Art women's basketball staff as an assistant coach in July 2021.
Part of the coaching staff that guided the Urban Knights to the program's best season in the last six years, Payton helped return Academy of Art women's basketball to the NCAA Tournament after finishing third in the Pacific West Conference regular season standings and reaching the
PacWest Championship Tournament title game in 2021-22. En route to a campaign that saw new program single-season records for scoring defense (61.0) and blocks per game (5.2), ART U's tenacious defense led to four different players earning
PacWest Defender of the Week (six weekly awards in total) and a trio of
All-PacWest Team selections including freshman forward/center Alisha Wilson who, during the regular season, not only led the
PacWest in both rebounds per game (11.0) and double-doubles (13), but also ranked 17th and 22nd in NCAA Division II in those respective categories (the lone freshman in the top 38 of rebounds) while remaining fourth in the country in offensive rebounds per game (4.8). Both junior guard Chanel Stuart and freshman guard Milan Tuttle would end up on the
PacWest All-Tournament Team after the Knights defeated
UH Hilo and
Point Loma on back-to-back days to make the tournament final, pushing the team's season-best win streak to seven games.
As a varsity graduate assistant women’s basketball coach and the junior varsity head coach for Siena Heights, Payton helped the program achieve a 50-14 record across two seasons. A historic 2019-20 run saw the Saints tie the program wins record, going 27-6 overall with an appearance in the NAIA Tournament and two All-Americans including Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Player of the Year Peyton Banks. In 2018-19, Siena Heights was led by a pair of All-Conference Team honorees, finishing 23-8 overall and reaching the WHAC Tournament. Payton was responsible for recruiting an average of 10 players per year and, in addition to developing workouts and fundraising, coached approximately 26 players across varsity and junior varsity each season.
Prior to her time with the Saints, Payton spent multiple seasons as a travel basketball youth coach with Hamm Hoops LLC. Her coaching career began in 2016 when she served as a student assistant coach with her alma mater Arizona Christian for two years. Assisting with practice, scouting, and post player development, Payton helped the Firestorm rise from seventh in the Golden State Athletic Conference to a top 25 ranked program in NAIA.
After competing on the court for ACU herself and collecting a NAIA Scholar Athlete Award along the way, Payton earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a concentration in Sports Psychology in 2017. She went on to graduate from Siena Heights with a master’s degree in Business Administration in 2020.
