Coach Kane reaches school record in wins

Carl Waits

Sports

As he entered his thirteenth year in Dripping Springs as the volleyball coach, Michael Kane already had a full resume of work. His teams had won eight district championships and sent five teams to the state tourney, including the 2015 state champions. He had another unusual goal ahead. That was to have the most wins of any coach at Dripping Springs. He was chasing the 441 victories carved out by Poe Shelton's basketball teams in 22 years of coaching. Coach Kane would need ten victories to surpass that number. At the New Braunfels Fraulein Volleyfest tourney, he tied the record with a 2-0 win over Hays and surpassed it with a 2-1 victory over Arlington.

One has to understand when comparing records between sports, it is not an apple to apple comparison and sometimes not even within the sport. There is the number of opportunities to win being the main factor. Volleyball has averaged 50 games a year, soccer around 25, basketball 30, softball and baseball 33 and football 10. There was a time in volleyball when any match in a tourney that was not regulation was not counted in the winloss record. However, the main comparison that is close to apple to apple is the winning percentage. The Lady Tigers under Coach Kane have won at a .738 pace and that is high quality, which leads to all the high honors.

For those who are curious, here are the winningest Dripping Springs coaches in each sport along with the years coached. Football: Galen Zimmerman (7): 61-18=.772; Girls basketball: Jerry English (13): 331-112=.747; Boys basketball: Poe Shelton (22): 441-232=.655; Baseball: Chris Payne (6): 326-190-6=.630; Softball: Keith Tuck (9): 262-57-- 1=.820; Boys soccer: Brian Ormande (11): 175-56-25=.732; Girls soccer: Bailee Perrine (5): 113-14-7=.869. Volleyball: (12): 432-153=.738.