ROCHESTER — For the first time since the inception of the Rochester Lourdes boys soccer program in 1997, there will not be a Kane acting as its head coach.
Sean Kane, head coach for the last three years and a part of the Eagles coaching staff for 15 seasons overall, announced on Thursday that he is stepping down.
It was his father, Hall of Fame coach Tom Kane, who was the Eagles’ original head coach, a position he held until 2020 when he shared head coaching responsibilities with Sean. The last two seasons, the 39-year-old Sean has held the top position by himself. He went a combined 23-14-5 in 2021 and ’22 and his teams reached the state tournament both years.
Kane indicated it is a desire to spend more time with his 6- and 10-year-old daughters and their sports endeavors that led him to step down as Lourdes’ coach.
“It hit me a little bit last season, being gone a little bit more,” Kane said. “Our oldest daughter is starting traveling basketball and I don’t want to miss her games and I want to be able to take her to practices. And our younger daughter is starting soccer now and I want to be able to coach her. If she wants her dad to coach her, she’s going to get her dad to coach.”
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As things had been going, Kane didn’t believe he was putting as much into the Lourdes soccer program as he wished. He wanted to give the Eagles 100 percent of his attention, but said he was falling short of that.
“I saw myself drifting at times last year,” Kane said. “I just didn’t know if I had it in me to give 100 percent. I want to let someone do it who can give the boys their all, to give them what they really need to succeed.”
The decision didn’t come easily for Kane, who cherished his time as Lourdes coach.
Winning was fun for him. But what he appreciated most were the relationships he built with the players and how he was able to help them grow, on and off the field.
He says that is easily what he’ll miss most.
“It’s going to hit me (when the season starts late this summer),” Kane said. “It was just the daily interactions with the boys that I am going to miss most, more than the games and the winning and losing. Just being there to help them out. That was the biggest thing for me.”
Besides being a coach at Lourdes for 15 years, Kane was also a former Eagles player. He was a key member of Lourdes teams that won state championships in 1998 and ’99. After that, he went on to play soccer at Wartburg College in Iowa.
While Kane is now done coaching at the high school level, there is still a Kane who has the reins of a high school program. That is older brother Blake, who is the Northfield girls head coach.
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