[4] After not fielding a team for the 1943–1944 season due to the effects of World War II, on December 29, 1944, Alabama athletic director Hank Crisp announced Laney as the new basketball head coach.
In 1934, Laney entered his first season as head football coach at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Alabama.
[6] He remained at Woodlawn through the 1943 season and ended his high school coaching career with the Colonials with an overall record of 76 wins and 14 losses (76–14).
[8] While there, some of the future stars he coached included Harry Gilmer, Earl Fullilove, Holt Rast and Travis Tidwell, and each would later become a member of a College Football All-America Team.
[11] After his tenure as a coach ended, Laney continued to serve at Alabama as a field representative for the University Alumni Office from 1958 until his retirement 1972.