Pueblo South’s Shannan Lane becomes school’s first woman to coach boys basketball team
PUEBLO, Colo. (BVM) — Shannan Lane has accomplished a lot at Pueblo South High School, but she’s found a new challenge that will make her an even more important figure in the school’s history.
This past spring, Lane became the first woman to be hired as the head coach of the Pueblo South boys basketball team.
Lane was a star player for the Colts before returning to Pueblo South to coach the girls team after college. And in her 11 seasons as the head girls coach, she built the program into a perennial power, compiling a record of 241-52. She led the Colts to 11 Sweet 16 appearances, seven Great 8 appearances, six Final Fours, four state title games and a 4A state championship in 2013.
Lane, who’s taught physical education at Minnequa Elementary School since 2009, retired as the girls coach after the 2019 season to spend more time with her family. But when she was presented with the opportunity to return to Pueblo South, she couldn’t pass it up.
“I’ve been a South person forever and this just opened the door for me,” Lane said. “I think it’s exciting. I don’t know if I would’ve gone this way if I had daughters. I have two boys and I think that kind of opened the window to maybe pursuing this a little bit more than I ever thought I would.”
Lane’s oldest son, Ryan, will be a freshman at Pueblo South in the fall. That helped with the timing, and she expects her familiarity will help with the transition.
“It’s going to be different but a lot of them know me, which is always a plus,” Lane said. “A lot of these boys because they’re the same age as my son or a year older, they’re kids I’m familiar with and I’m familiar with their families so that always helps.”
While Lane said she doesn’t consider herself to be an activist, she does believe in equal rights and realizes the importance of breaking traditional gender roles by taking on a job usually held by men. One of Lane’s former players has already done so. Kelsey Martinez, a 2010 Pueblo South grad, became the first female coach in the history of the Oakland Raiders when she joined the NFL team’s strength and conditioning staff in 2018.
Lane anticipates the challenges that lie ahead and the adjustments she might have to make coaching boys as opposed to girls, but considering she’s raising two boys of her own, she’s well aware of what she’s in for.
“You see men coaching females all the time and a lot of times men don’t understand the girls,” Lane said. “They don’t understand that girls need to feel good to perform and boys are the complete opposite. They perform to feel good. It’s going to be different.”
Also unlike the most recent girls teams Lane coached, her boys won’t be facing as high of expectations. The Colts have a solid tradition of success, having won state titles in 1995 and 2001 and reached the Final Four as recently as 2018, but they’ve gone 12-34 over the past two seasons. Lane now inherits a young group that lacks experience, but she welcomes the opportunity to prove she can develop a strong boys team and she believes that her players will buy in with a coach who’s as dedicated to the school as she has been.
“They know that my heart bleeds black and white,” Lane said. “I’m a South Colt girl through and through and I think that always helps when you love the school and you love who you’re playing for.”
