Ellett steps down as basketball coach

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Another local girls basketball coach in charge of a lauded program has resigned.

Hampshire’s Sue Ellett informed Whip-Purs athletic director David Hicks and principal Chuck Bumbales that she will not return for the 2010-11 season, capping a seven-year tenure during which Hampshire went 151-53.

The Whips won six Big Northern Conference East Division titles, four regionals, a sectional and a supersectional and finished second in the Class A state finals during the 2003-04 season.

Hampshire bowed out this season in a Class 3A sectional final to Oswego, which took fourth in the 3A state finals. The Whips were 29-2.

“It’s time,” Ellett said. “When I don’t look forward to walking into the gym and helping a kid, I know it’s time to step down because at that point, it’s just not fair. If this was a November-to-February commitment, I might be able to swing it, but it’s a year-round commitment.

“I’ve spent about 20 years coaching basketball, from the seventh-grade boys all the way through to varsity girls. I’m starting to look at life and how short it is, and I want to spend time with my husband, Doug, and my kids (Taylor and Connie).”

Ellett coaches Taylor and Connie on the Whips’ golf team, which Ellett will continue to coach. She wants to focus on helping her children find scholarship opportunities within golf and spend more time on the course herself.

“My family and my kids come first,” Ellett said. “I’ve been putting everyone else’s kids first for a long time. It’s time to put my own family on the front burner now.”

The Hampshire administration is sorry to see her go.

“Sue was a tremendously hard worker,” Hicks said in a statement from the school. “The program’s success rests upon the fact that our girls worked hard and were always prepared for the upcoming opponent. Sue’s team reflected her values. They were hard workers who never let up. The team’s playoff slogan this season summed it up nicely: ‘Not magic, just hard work.’ ”

Ellett’s resignation marks the third girls basketball head coach to step down this year. Fellow D-300 coach Ed Haugens stepped down after Jacobs’ Class 4A regional final loss. BNC East Division coach Casey Seyller also called it quits at Harvard after his team lost in Class 2A postseason action.

“This is not something the administration wanted, but we respect Sue’s reasons for resigning her position as the girls head coach,” Bumbales said in the statement. “Sue has been the consummate professional in her tenure ... [and] our players are not only better basketball players, but better citizens and people for being a part of this tremendously successful program.”

D-300 will begin the search for a new head coach in the near future, the statement read.