Zane McFarlane joined the Islanders as a volunteer beach volleyball assistant in September 2019 and rejoined the team in 2021 as assistant coach for the blue and green. McFarlane will develop defensive drills and schemes, and target impact players for the coaching staff.

McFarlane has assisted in coaching the Islanders to three-peat the Southland Conference Tournament championship and make three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2023 and 2024, he helped lead the team to the regular season championship after the team went undefeated in SLC play both years. Since McFarlane has been on the Island, he and head coach Gayle Stammer are a perfect 30-0 against Southland opponents in the regular season.

Under the direction of Stammer, McFarlane assisted in helping the program post its best season in program history in 2023 with the 25-10 record before they topped it in 2024 with the 28-10 mark. Also in 2024, he helped coach the Islanders to be nationally ranked #20 for six weeks in the AVCA Top-20, the first team to do so in conference history. 

In McFarlane's first season back in 2021, he helped lead the Islanders to the championship match in the first-ever SLC Tournament. A&M-Corpus Christi was ranked the highest of any team in the conference in the PABLO Team rankings to earn the No. 1 seed.

The Islanders posted a 7-0 record in the regular season against SLC opponents. Five of those seven matches were 5-0 sweeps. Additionally, the Islanders claimed a conference-best five Southland Pair of the Week awards, and four pairs earned SLC All-Conference honors.

Following his stint as a professional player in Australia, McFarlane returned to the U.S. in 2017 to not only take a director of operations positions with Loyola Marymount University's volleyball team in Los Angeles, Calif but also begin his AVP career as well. McFarlane continues his AVP run, as he is currently competing in multiple pro beach volleyball tournaments.

McFarlane has been coaching club and high school volleyball for nine years. His Sunshine Volleyball teams have earned two medals, one in 2016 with 14 Westside (gold medal in the Open division at the Far Western JNQ) and one in 2014 with 13 Westside (Junior National silver medal in the Open division). 

Outside of club volleyball, Zane has coached high school volleyball at Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville, IL, where he helped lead the team to the state quarterfinals for the first time in eight years, Palisades High School and Brentwood School. 

Collegiately, Zane's team at Santa Monica College was runner-up for the 2014 state championship. At Lindenwood University, Zane earned NAIA National Player of the Week honors and led the nation in digs.