Lane Lord

Head Women's Basketball Coach

Lane Lord enters his fourth season as head women’s basketball coach at Pittsburg State University. In his first three seasons, Lord has worked to build the Pitt State women’s basketball into a fast-paced, fan friendly program. The team has won some exciting games, been involved in the community and worked hard to help the Gorillas move closer to the top of the MIAA.

Lord’s Gorillas posted the best turnaround in school history in the 2008-09 season. The team improved to a 20-9 overall record and a 14-6 record in league play to finish third in the MIAA, the team’s highest finish since taking a share of the league title in 1996. Along the way, the team played some thrilling games, including a home, three-overtime upset of No. 9 Washburn. The team also built a strong fan base that went to Kansas City to watch the team defeat Nebraska-Omaha in the first around of the MIAA Tournament. Nicole McCombs became the first Gorillas to earn first-team All-MIAA honors under Lord, and Lord himself was named the MIAA Coach of the Year for engineering the great turnaround.

Lord’s team struggled a bit in his third season, finishing with a 14-14 overall record. The team fared well in league play, finishing with a 12-8 record and earning home wins over nationally ranked Washburn and Emporia State. In fact, the Gorillas were thrilling to watch at John Lance Arena, as the team lost only one game in its home venue.

Lord’s first season at PSU was a transition season. The Lord led Gorillas compiled a 10-17 record and finished ninth in the MIAA. Great changes took place in the program in that first season that led to the record-breaking sophomore season.

Lord, 40, came to Pitt State from Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan., where he directed the Cougars’ women’s basketball program for three seasons from 2005-07. Prior to his time at BCCC, he served as head girls’ basketball coach at Wichita Heights High School for nine years (1996-2004).

While at Barton County, he compiled a 77-21 (.786) overall record, posting 22 or more victories each year.  He compiled a 141-62 (.695) record in nine seasons at Wichita Heights, including an 89-8 (.918) record and a pair of Kansas Class 6A state titles during his final four years at the post.

In his final season at Barton County in 2007, Lord directed the Cougars to a 27-3 overall record and a share of the Jayhawk Conference West regular season championship. His squad won 24 of its last 25 games and finished the season on a 12-game winning streak. The Cougars, who posted a 15-1 conference record and shared the Jayhawk Conference West crown with Seward County Community College, posted 15 wins against teams that were either ranked or receiving votes in the NJCAA Top 25 poll.

Prior to taking over the BCCC program in 2005, the Cougars compiled a 35-59 (.372) record in their three previous seasons. In his initial year at BCCC, he led the team to a 22-12 record, which included an eight-game improvement in the win column from the previous year’s campaign.  In 2006, his BCCC squad posted a 28-6 record, ranked as high as No. 8 in the NJCAA national poll and finished second in the Jayhawk Conference West standings.

During his three-year tenure at BCCC, 15 players signed NCAA Division I or Division II scholarships. Seven players from his 2005-06 squad signed Division I scholarships, while three players from his most recent squad signed with Division I programs during the early signing period in November.

During his tenure at Wichita Heights High School, the Falcons won back-to-back Class 6A state titles in 2002-03 and four straight City League championships (2001-04). In 2003, he was named the Kansas Girls Coach of the Year for all classes by the National Federation of High School Coaches, the Kansas Coaches Association, and the Topeka Capital-Journal. Additionally, Lord twice was named the Class 6A Coach of the Year (2002-03).

Lord is also building a reputation of being a coaching mentor, as several of his Pitt State assistants have moved forward in the ranks, either as head coaches at the junior college level or assistants with Division I programs. Elena Lovato and Anna Nimz are head coaches at Grayson and Labette Community Colleges, respectively. Andy Majors is in his second season as an assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin University.

Lord, a native of Waco, Texas, earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and special education from Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., in 1993. He earned a master’s degree in school leadership from Friends University in Wichita in 2003.

Lord is married to the former Stacy Shobe from Conway Springs, Kan. The couple have a 10-year-old daughter, Logan.