Wichita State men’s basketball head coach Paul Mills has announced the he has named Toby Lane as the Shockers next director of basketball operations.
Lane comes to Wichita State with more than 25 years of operations and coaching experience at the Division I level. He’ll be responsible for scouting, team analysis and strategies, and day to day operations within the Shocker program.
A Shocker alum, Lane is set to begin his first season on the bench at his alma mater.
“Toby has been involved with high level basketball for the past few decades and has had a front row seat for the competitiveness in the AAC,” Mills said. “He is also a Wichita State graduate so he knows our institution and the conference. We are excited to welcome Toby and his wife, Carla, back to Wichita. He will add tremendous value in preparing our team to be at our competitive best and add deep connections in recruiting.”
Lane has served in multiple capacities, from in-game coaching, player and skill development, game and practice planning to travel logistics, academic support, compliance and scouting and recruiting, and has experienced success at every stop along the way in a college basketball coaching and administrative career that has spanned over 25 years.
Most recently, Lane served as the Director of Operations for the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Men’s Basketball program for the 2022-23 season. Prior to Little Rock, Lane spent eight seasons at the University of Tulsa where he served as the Director of Scouting for the first six years, before spending his final two seasons on the Golden Hurricane bench as an assistant coach.
Lane spent the first half of the previous decade at the University of Missouri where he served as the program’s video coordinator for the 2013-14 season which followed two years as the Tigers’ Director of Basketball Operations from 20011-13. Before his stint in Columbia, Lane spent four seasons from 2007-11 in Coral Gables, Florida as the Associate Director of Basketball Operations for the University of Miami.
Lane spent three seasons (2004-07) on the bench at Southeast Missouri State as an assistant coach which followed two seasons as the video coordinator at the University of Oklahoma (2002-04). Lane came to Norman after spending the 2001-02 season in California as an administrative assistant for the Long Beach State Men’s Basketball program.
Lane’s start in coaching came at Goessel High School in Goessel, Kansas where he served as head coach from 1993-96, before he took his first collegiate job three years later as an assistant coach at Neosho County CC (1996-97) in Chanute, Kansas. From NCCC, Lane coached at the University of Central Oklahoma over four seasons (1997-2001) first as a graduate assistant and then as a full-time assistant at the NCAA level for the first time in his career.
In all, Lane has made five NCAA Division I Tournament appearances which includes an Elite Eight run with Oklahoma in 2003 and one NCAA Division II Tournament Sweet 16 run with Central Oklahoma, three NIT appearances, and multiple conference titles. He has coached over 30 players that have gone on to play professionally which includes five NBA players of which four were drafted.
Lane earned his Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Mathematics Education from Wichita State University in 1993 and graduated with his Master’s of Education in General Education with an emphasis in Higher Education from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1999.
