Transylvania men’s golf head coach Brian Lane is in his 18th season as the Transylvania men’s golf coach for the 2022-2023 season and in his 22nd year working with the Pioneer men’s golf program.
The Brian Lane era has witnessed immense success and national prominence for Transylvania men’s golf since he became head coach in 2005.
During Lane’s tenure, Transylvania has become one of the nation’s elite NCAA Division III men’s golf programs. Transylvania’s streak in which they had 13 consecutive conference tournament championships is the second-longest in NCAA Division III history.
Under Lane, the Pioneers won the first of their 13 consecutive Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships in 2007 while concurrently earning their first 13 berths in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournaments. During the streak Lane earned 13 straight HCAC Coach of the Year awards during the unprecedented run. Transylvania’s dominance in conference play has led to a staggering 390-10 record versus HCAC opponents since 2006.
Though the extraordinary streak came to an end with a commendable second place finish in the 2021 HCAC Championships, Lane’s Pioneers quickly reasserted themselves atop the HCAC in 2022 with championship number 14, taking the championship with three golfers out of the top four, including a title from senior Tim Alexander. Lane was again named Coach of the Year for 2022.
The 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons were the most successful in the history of the program as the Pioneers notched back-to-back national runner-up finishes in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The Pioneers entered 2013-14 as the preseason No. 1 ranked team, the first in program history.
Lane is a past member of the six-person NCAA Division III golf committee in charge of organizing all aspects of the NCAA Tournament. He was named Midwest Region Coach of the Year four consecutive years (2010-2013) and was a finalist for NCAA National Coach of the Year. Additionally, Lane has served on the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-American Committee.
Lane helped orchestrate the selection of Transylvania University as the host institution for the 2019 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf National Championship at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky. The event marked the first time an NCAA men’s golf championship event had been held in the state of Kentucky since 1993. Lane was instrumental in Transylvania’s selection to host the upcoming 2023 NCAA Men’s Golf National Championships.
Lane guided his golf team to three consecutive national top-10 finishes (2012-2014), doing so again in 2018.
Under Lane, 26 golfers have been named Cleveland Golf All-Academic Scholars and 14 have earned PING Division III All-American honors, with Harrison Lane becoming the latest Pioneer golfer to claim Srixon Academic All-American honors in 2019. Lane's teams have been recognized for the GCAA Academic Excellence award over 10 times, one of only five teams in the country to achieve such a string of honors.
Lane has had eight players named Most Valuable Golfer in the HCAC. Since becoming head coach, he has had 55 golfers earn All-HCAC honors.
Outside of his coaching duties at Transylvania, Lane is a member of the Bluegrass Sports Commission, which recently engineered the selection of hosting duties for the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship event to Lexington at Keene Trace Golf Club. Lane is on the Board of Directors for the First Tee of Greater Lexington, part of a nationwide network focused on growing the game of golf towards youth.
