CHADRON, Neb. – June 4, 2020 – Chadron State College athletics director Joel R. Smith announced on Friday the hiring of Shane Paben as the schools next head mens basketball coach.
“We are excited to have Shane Paben be our next mens basketball coach,” said Smith. “He is a seasoned coach with years of coaching and academic achievements. We believe he will build on our foundation and lead the Eagles to success in the RMAC.”
Pabens previous coaching stop was at Bellevue University, just outside of Omaha, where he led the Bruins to 10 consecutive NAIA tournaments, 10 straight regular season conference titles, and six conference tournament titles in 11 seasons. His teams finished nationally ranked each season. Paben brings a career head coaching record of 275-100.
The four-time conference coach of the year has mentored 20 First Team All-Conference players, 10 who received honorable mention, six conference Newcomers of the Year, four Defensive Players of the Year, and two Most Valuable Players. In addition, his players have received eight All-America awards and four for All-America honorable mention.
On top of his teams success on the court, Pabens student-athletes achieved milestones in the classroom as well. While he was head coach at Bellevue, he implemented an Academic Support Center for all the athletic programs. As a result, his players earned 14 conference scholar-athlete awards, increasing the number of Academic All-Americans and All-Conference student-athletes in program history by more than double. His 2016-17 team earned the NABC and NAIA team academic awards.
Prior to Bellevue, Paben was an assistant coach at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma and Morningside College in Iowa. Both programs sent teams to the NAIA championships and received top-15 rankings during his tenure.
He was also a successful high school boys basketball coach from 1996-2004, before embarking on a collegiate coaching career.
Paben graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1997, and he received his masters in 2007 from the University of South Dakota.
“Im very excited for the opportunity to join Chadron State,” said Paben. “Its a tremendous place to coach, with a wealth of possibilities for success. Hopefully I can build a successful program and lead us to the NCAA tournament.”
Coming with Paben to Chadron are his wife, Dr. Michelle Burns, and his sons Drew and Will.
