Mike Lane is in his 10th season as the Director of Rowing and Head Women’s Rowing Coach at Jacksonville University. He is charged with managing the JU Boathouse and leading the direction of the men’s and women’s teams at JU. The rowing program at JU is a Division I school who has seen great success winning the MAAC Championships and competing at the NCAA Championships 8 out of the last 10 years. Coach Lane also received the Head Coach of the Year Award from the MAAC Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022 & 2024. Lastly, in 2024 he completed the most successful year for JU Women’s rowing in program history winning MAAC, beating boats at NCAA's, and competing at the prestigious Women's Henley Regatta in Henley, England.
Prior to JU he led the Penn program for twelve years, nine as the Head Women’s Coach and three as the assistant. “Mike’s experience and track record at Penn, both in his coaching and recruiting, gives us great confidence toward our goal of developing a top-flight women’s rowing program,” said Penn Director of Athletics Steve Bilsky at the time of Lane’s appointment. “We did an extensive search, interviewed quality people, and in the end concluded that we had the best candidate right here at Penn.”
Lane's first eight years certainly saw an uptick in the program's success. In 2008, the varsity eight advanced to the Grand Final at EAWRC Sprints for the first time since 1991, and the Quakers' fifth-place finish was its best since 1982. They repeated that finish at the 2010 Sprints. In addition, Penn's varsity eight won the petite final at Sprints in both 2007 and 2009.
The 2010-11 varsity eight took the Orange Challenge Cup for the first time since 1995, defeating Northeastern and Syracuse on the Charles River in Boston. That feat was repeated in 2012, marking the first time Penn had won the race two years in a row since 1988 and 1989.