Westfielder Named Monmouth Regional Basketball Coach

Westfield resident Jim Lane has been named Monmouth Regional High School boys varsity basketball coach.

At 6-foot-7, Lane played for Princeton University under coach Pete Carril, after graduating from Union Catholic. Throughout his time with the Tigers, the team made it to the NCAA tournament for four consecutive years.

In his new role, Lane said he looks forward to challenging the scholar-athletes to prepare them for the next level of their formal education.

“More specifically, this year our goal is to focus—this summer and early in the season—on setting a firm foundation for multi-year success by challenging the scholar-athletes to get better fundamentally—dribbling, passing, shooting—on the basketball court and eliminate any grades that start with a 6 or 7 (60s or 70s) off the basketball court by collaborating with teachers and the guidance department. 

"I am fairly confident that if we do those things in the summer and the first half of the season, my coaching training from great mentors at Union Catholic and Princeton University as a player, will position us to challenge some of the perennial power boys basketball programs in the Shore Conference," Lane explained.

Though he served as an assistant varsity coach at Westfield High School during the 2010-2011 season, when the Blue Devils passed him over for a head coaching job, he opted to pursue a full-time high school teaching position that suited his expertise and could lead to a head coaching opportunity. 

Lane, who grew up in Fanwood, left behind his career as a Wall Street analyst to teach Global History and A.P. Economics at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School.