The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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Girls' hoops coach Stark resigns
Coach cites family concerns after girls' season moves to winter
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 12, 2007
The Michigan High School Athletic Association's loss in its court fight to keep girls' basketball a fall sport has now become a major loss as well for Milan athletics.
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Scott Stark confirmed Tuesday that he would resign as coach of the Big Red girls' varsity basketball team. The resignation will become official at a meeting Thursday between Stark and Milan High School Principal Ron Reed.
As the father of three basketball players (a boy and girl at the middle-school level and a boy in high school, in the Saline school system), Stark felt he would be unable to both continue as Milan's coach and provide adequate support for his family after the MHSAA was forced to schedule both girls' and boys' basketball seasons simultaneously.
"My children have to come first," he said. "That's the bottom line. I can't compromise anything with my kids."
But the choice didn't come easily as Stark said he endured a number of "sleepless nights" weighing his decision.
"I just don't see any way I could make it work," he said. "It made me sick to my stomach when I heard. It still does."
Reed said he understood and accepted Stark's decision, but wished that circumstances could have allowed the coach, who had doubled the Big Red win total from two to four in his one season, to stay.
"Right here, you're starting to see the drain on quality coaches (from the season switch)," Reed said. "Here's someone who has the support of the school, the parents, the team, and he won't be able to continue doing what he loves. It's frustrating.
"Scott did an excellent job for us. He's a guy who brought a lot of energy and support for the program. I have nothing but positive things to say about Scott."
With Julie Mossburg stepping down as the girls' head coach after the 2005 season (she and Stark began 2006 as head co-coaches) and Stark's resignation, the program will have its third head coach in as many seasons in 2007-2008. For that reason, Reed said a "priority" in the coaching search would be finding a candidate willing to provide the program with some long-term continuity.
"We feel we have a really good group of girls and want to give them every opportunity to develop," he said. "What we want to do is bring some stability into the program."
An audibly frustrated Stark believed he would have the opportunity to provide that stability was deeply disappointed to have that opportunity removed, in his view, by the Communities for Equity group that brought about the lawsuit.
"They didn't think about the big picture," he said.
The most difficult thing, Stark said, was having to leave a program he feels is on the verge of breaking through to bigger and better things.
"I love those girls. They mean a lot to me," he said, adding that he had spoken already to his seniors and captains. "I know what kind of season we could have had together. I know what kind of season they are going to have. It's going to be something that's going to change the program."
Stark said that in his 12 years coaching high school basketball, Milan was where he "felt the most comfortable."
"Julie Mossburg gave me a great opportunity, coming from another school, that really helped me out and put me back on my feet," he said. "It was great. And now it's gone again."
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