PUEBLO — Simply put, Pueblo South's Shannan Lane was born to coach basketball.
"Just something I love, something I always enjoyed," Lane said.
A very successful one at that. For more than a decade, Lane guided the Colts' girls hoops team to 241 wins, four championship game appearances, and a fifth program title in 2013.
"I had such good girls and such a good group, I wasn't ready to let that go even when the job was available before," Lane said. "But it just seems like the right time."
After taking a year off, a new challenge awaits. It's the same gym, but a new group of players as she becomes the first female to coach a boy's basketball team in the Steel City.
"You just walk into this gym and it's back, it's on," Lane said. "Having two boys is one of the reasons I thought about doing this. I'm looking forward to the challenge."
With Lane's resume and the fact the Colts have won 12 games the past two seasons, it hasn't been hard for South to buy-in.
"You talk to them now and everything is great but I told them to wait a few weeks and they'll be cursing at me in their sleep," Lane said.
"She has a lot of respect in this town," senior guard Luke Purkey said. "Now that she is our coach everybody knows it's going to be a different year and I'm excited for her to coach us."
"She's aggressive, she's fun, she's funny," senior forward Micaiah Smith said. "She's just all over, she's probably one of the best coaches I've ever had."
Building contenders is what Shannan Lane is all about.
"There's always going to be expectations, that's just how I work, how I'm wired, don't think I can lay those down," Lane said.
If she can inspire the youth of tomorrow in the process, it'll be a win-win.
"I think the boys will get used to it and I think it's good for the girls to see, that they can grow up and do whatever they want to do," Lane said.
The Colts opened their season with an 81-34 win over Vanguard on Thursday night.
