After 25 years and 908 wins at the University of North Alabama, UNA head baseball coach Mike Lane announced his retirement Wednesday as the Lions’ head baseball coach.

Lane’s announcement came at the school’s weekly Sportsman’s Club Luncheon and closes a 25-year career in which he transformed the UNA baseball program into one of the nation’s most consistent winners. Lane’s retirement will become effective on December 31, 2008. He will begin work in a part-time position in the UNA Athletic Department on Feb. 1, 2009 as an assistant in athletics development. UNA will post the head baseball coaching position immediately.

“My dad always said if you can find what you love to do, and get someone to pay you to do it, you’re a lucky man,” Lane said. “I’ve been very lucky to have had the chance to coach at the University of North Alabama and spend 25 years here. We’ve had great support from the administration and the staff and the community support has been outstanding.”

Lane came to UNA in 1983 and took over a baseball program that had produced only one winning season in the six years prior to his arrival. In his 25 years at UNA he had 25 straight winning seasons, won 908 games, averaged 36 wins per season, won 40 games or more six times, won five Gulf South Conference championships and took the Lions

to ten NCAA regionals and one World Series. He ranks among the winningest coaches in Division II history in both wins and winning percentage.

During the 2008 season UNA’s home baseball facility was renamed Mike D. Lane Field in his honor and in 2007 he was inducted into the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Under Lane, numerous Lion baseball players went on to play professional baseball, including Cedric Landrum who debuted in the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs and played in 1993 with the New York Mets, Jim Czajkowski, who reached the majors with Colorado Rockies is in 1994, Terry Jones, who debuted with the Rockies in 1996 and also played with the Expos and Dodgers, and Josh Willingham who made his major

league debut with the Florida Marlins in 2004 and earned a starting position in 2006.

In addition, Lane developed a national reputation of success and was chosen by the United States Baseball Federation to serve as one of three coaches for the South team in the U.S. Baseball Trials in Florida in 1992. The squad selected from those trials represented the U.S. in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona,

Spain.

Lane equalled the success that his teams enjoyed on the field with continuous success off the field as well with numerous players earning conference, regional and national academic recognition. Lane was also responsible for the continued improvements to University Field and was honored with a fund-raising roast in 2007 that raised the money for the stadium’s renovation. The stadium was then renamed in his honor as Mike D. Lane Field during the 2008 season. In all he led UNA to 10 Gulf South Conference division titles and to GSC Tournament titles in 1984, 1989, 1993, 1997 and 1999.

In 1999, UNA went all the way to its first Division II Baseball World Series in Montgomery after the Lions won the GSC and Division II South Central Regional championships. UNA finished fifth in the nation with a 45-12 overall record.

The Lions had a remarkable 571-156-4 record at home in Lane’s 25 years at the school, with a record 32 home wins in 1999. Lane led his first UNA squad to a 28-24-1 record and the first Gulf South Conference baseball championship in school history in 1984.

In 1985, the Lions went 46-11-1, finished the regular-season ranked No. 2 nationally in Division II and played in the NCAA Central Region Tournament for the second straight year.

A No. 17 national ranking and a 34-16-1 record awaited in 1986. That was followed with a 40-13-1 mark in 1987 for the second most wins in school history. The Lions

also had a 21-2-1 record at home for the best home record ever at UNA.

After a fifth straight winning season came in 1988 with a 29-16-1 mark, UNA jumped back into the national picture with a 44-11 finish in 1989 that included the GSC championship and another NCAA playoff berth.

In 1990 UNA went 37-9 in the regular-season but lost two straight games as the host of the Gulf South Conference Tournament and was then denied an NCAA playoff berth, despite a 37-11 record that included wins over Division I powers Middle Tennessee State and Mississippi State.

In 1991 the Lions earned their fifth NCAA playoff berth in eight years with a 30-17 record against one of the toughest schedules in school history.