Pinson Valley High School is looking to make a resurgence on the hardwood, and the first step to that was bringing in coach Cedric Lane, a proven winner at the high school level.
Lane comes from Jackson-Olin, where he coached the previous two seasons, leading them to a berth in the regional round for the first time in 14 years. Before that, he won three consecutive state titles at Wenonah.
Despite the Indians notching just three wins last season, expectations are high from Lane’s perspective.
“I plan to take (the program) from this point,” he said. “They won three games last year, but it shouldn’t take a whole lot.”
He cited the instant success his teams attained at Jackson-Olin, and sees no reason why that cannot happen at Pinson Valley.
“My expectation is first year. That’s not the norm, but if I go in saying it’s going to take me ‘X’ amount of years to be successful, I’ll be cheating the senior class. I want to go in right away and make something happen,” he said.
Lane pointed to the administration’s desire to have a top-notch basketball program. Principal Michael Turner was the basketball coach at Leeds High School and led the Green Wave to a state championship in 2009.
Matt Glover, the athletic director and head football coach, has also been in contact with Lane about improving the relationship between the two programs and encouraging more football players to play basketball as well.
“It’s a win-win,” Lane said. “When you go into a situation like that, it’s hard not to be successful.”
One aspect of the school system that excites Lane is the direct feeder program he will have from Rudd Middle School, something he has not had in past jobs.
“It’s going to be a close-knit community … Recreation kids play their games at the high school gyms, and that means that you’ve got automatic access to all the kids in the whole community,” he said.
The Indians also hired Destiny Frazier to be the new girls basketball and volleyball coach. Frazier comes from Clay-Chalkville Middle School.
