Coaches come, coaches go, and there will probably be a lot of them coming and going in the next few months, years, etc.

Some moves aren’t all that significanat. Unfortunately, that certainly wasn’t the case when earlier this past week the news broke that Nashua High School North boys basketball coach Steve Lane told Athletic Director Lisa Gingras he was all done after 14 seasons as the Titans head man. Lane told Gingras the week before last, then met with the players and early this week the job was posted. Done deal.

“It’s a huge loss for our whole athletic program. And not just the basketball program, and not just for North, but overall,” Gingras said. “I wasn’t overly shocked, but its devastating for the program, it’s devastating for all of us. He’s a coach that changes culture.”

And Gingras put it all in perspective when describing why Lane was so important.

“He is truly is a coach it’s about the people and the kids, and not the sport,” Gingras said.

Bingo. That, in a nutshell, is Steve Lane.

Last year a player walked by in the hallway after a game while Lane was doing a postgame interview, and the coach stopped and said, “Hey, get to school on time tomorrow.”

All those things go into coaching. Lane, we feel, sees the job as a basketball coach as a way to teach not only the game, but more importantly life lessons. He certainly did that.

There’s no gray area when it comes to this coach. He always sees things as they are, as a realist. Doesn’t sugarcoat it. Takes the job of molding student-athletes into young men very seriously. The wins will be there, so will the losses. It’s how his players handled both that is most important to Steve Lane.

But like we said, Lane also sees life in its simplest form at times. So the simple reason he’s stepping away? Life. He wants time to enjoy it with his family. An avid golfer and former State Am finalist and City Golf Senior champ, Lane will continue to coach the sport at Nashua North. “Best job in the world,” he’ll always tell you.

But it was time. His son Casey is an assistant coach at Springfield College, and Lane would watch a lot of games via online. Now maybe he will go watch them in person. Things like that. He will probably be able to play more golf instead of having summer hoop league meetings and going to see those games. Things like that.

Lane did the job at North for 14 years and had coached in Massachusetts before a decade-plus break that was both family and health related. But you’re not going to get many coaches running a team for 14 years any more in today’s sports world.

“He’s been coaching for over 30 years,” Gingras said. “Fourteen years as the varsity head coach at North and has done a lot with that program. He’s at the point where he wants more time in his life….

“I wasn’t overly surprised. Obviously coaching is very different than it used to be. It’s taking more wear and tear on our coaches. And for someone to stay in the same program for 14 years, and then again coaching for 30 plus – I wasn’t overly shocked.”

And Lane, who hates huge farewells, attention, etc. – he’d much rather have al the attention on his players – said it best in a text message.

“Just want to be sure that I am able to fully enjoy my passions other than hoops ,” he wrote, “and some free time.”

Lane says that to do the job right, coaching a varsity basketball program is an 11.5 month gig. And he’s right.

On the basketball side, he’s taken some teams that were lacking this or that to deep tourney runs. A year ago he got the Titans to the Division I title game, something no one could have envisioned when they were struggling in mid to late January only to go on an unbeaten run that ended

“I completely love and loved my time at North, coaching hoops and hopefully created a culture, passion and love for the game that made a lasting impact on the players that played for us,” Lane said in a text.

That last line was the key. Lasting impact. On the kids. That’s what good coaches do. Lane isn’t just a basketball coach. He’s a life coach. Consider these words from one of the players Lane had great influence on, Jaden Pena, who is now at Plymouth State but grew into the role as a floor leader in North’s great run a year ago.

“We have amazing teammates, we have amazing coaching staff, and an amazing system, that not only teaches us the X’s and O’s, the amazing I.Q. of basketball, but they teach a life lesson,” Pena said after the loss to Pinkerton in the finals. “They teach overcoming adversity. They teach how to get back on your feet. And that’s bigger than basketball. That’s life. And you can thank coach Steve Lane for that, honestly. He’s teaching these players.”

And Lane on Pena, which shows you what is important to this coach:

“Yeah, he’s come a long way as a kid,” Lane said. “We’re gonna miss him. Hopefully he’s learned a lot, as far as growing up and being a young man. If he takes that away from the program, that’s what we teach more than basketball.”

Now you know why Steve Lane will by sorely missed around North basketball circles. But if anyone deserves a heckuva lot more than a half a month off, it’s certainly him.

Hit ’em straight this spring and summer, Steve.

(Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X @Telegraph _TomK.)