Schneider didn’t have Paige in mind as a future head coach during the recruiting process that led to him hiring her from her assistant coaching position at North Dakota State before the 2021-22 season. He was looking for a personality type because he felt his team needed an injection of positive energy. He hasn’t forgotten the game Kansas played against NDSU during the 2020-21 season when there was barely anyone in the building due to the pandemic and how Paige conducted himself on the opposing bench.

But Schneider, who thought Paige would fit in with her position at the time, where she wanted to do more regional recruiting, learned that Paige had aspirations to be head coach during her time at Kansas. Shortly after Paige got the chance to be head coach last spring, Schneider said they evaluated everything she had done as an assistant at each of her jobs to identify areas where she could gain experience. Even if that hadn’t happened, Schneider thinks it’s a good thing to adjust staff responsibilities every few years so coaches are as versatile as possible.

For one, Paige explained, she has never scheduled out-of-conference games before. She is also more involved with the team’s budget and the name, image and reputation (NIL) area. Given the brand that KU is and the level of basketball the program plays at in the Big 12 Conference, she believes what she experiences during her time with the Jayhawks will prepare her for anything.

Paige can now laugh about the entire interview process last spring, how random and quick it all felt. She noted that you can have your own version of what’s going on and the public can have theirs, explaining it was funny that views on her career were so different back then. But that won’t happen next time, and depending on how this process plays out, she could be the latest Schneider assistant coach to land a head coaching job.