It’s not as if resignation letters relating to sporting positions in youth sports are an uncommon thing. If you check out a Harrison County Board of Education agenda for any of their meetings, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see several notices of resignations.

 

That, however, doesn’t mean all resignation letters are created equal. Sometimes, when you hear of someone stepping down, no matter what sport or what level, you do a double take. And such was the case late last month when rumor began trickling around that one of Bridgeport’s most tenured and equally successful coaches was stepping down.

 

As it turns out, the rumor is true. Earlier this week, Bill Shaver, the long-time head coach of the Bridgeport Middle School boys’ basketball team officially resigned his post. Shaver’s “retirement” from the game comes after 24 years of manning the BMS sidelines.

 

Think about that? Shaver coached middle school basketball one year short of a quarter of a century.

 

“For lack of a better term, I think I had hit a wall and decided it was time to focus on family. On top of that, my daughter (Katie) will be here next year and even though she wanted me to keep coaching through her eighth grade year, there was just too many things I didn’t want to miss,” said Shaver. “I know she’s going to be doing things at the school and I no longer want the conflict of having to miss things that she’s doing.

 

“That’s a big part of it and that, mentally, is the wall I kept running into” he continued. “I really don’t feel burned out, but this summer I didn’t feel that I had much more to give. When you coach and you feel that, you know it’s time to get out. I guess, in the end, it was a lot of little things and a few big things.”

 

While Shaver didn’t say it, I will. He’s not leaving due to a lack of success. Say whatever you want, but Bill Shaver’s teams won – and won a lot.

 

During his 24 season, the group won 12 championships and were the runners-up nine times. The group finished first or second in the regular season in all 24 years.

 

The overall record is even more impressive. He’ll walk away from the gymnasium with a mark of 370-60. You don’t need to do a percentage breakdown to know that’s pretty remarkable.

 

Shaver’s explanation?

 

“We had good kids and we had talent. Talent usually makes for good coaches,” he said with a laugh.

 

Shaver’s journey to the coaching position was more by chance than by want. After starting a basketball journey that included assisting Bill Bennett at then Washington Irving High School with the girls program and spending time as an assistant at Parkersburg Catholic High School, Shaver was back in Harrison County when he ran into one of the most successful coaches in the county’s history who he happened to be friends with – Donnie Kopp.

 

Kopp was the owner of two state championships during his time as Washington Irving girls coach and had been gauged about his interest in applying for the BMS job. Although Kopp wasn’t interested, he told Shaver that he may want to consider it.

 

“That’s the way I found out about it, and it just proceeded from there,” said Shaver.

 

Shaver applied and got the job and soon found himself leaving Pleasants County and his job at PCHS. Back in town, Shaver may have been steady at BMS as a coach, but he taught all over from Notre Dame, to the Alternative Learning Center, Lumberport Middle and then eventually Bridgeport Middle. He’s actually just in his fourth year at BMS.

 

With so many previous coaching and teaching moves and so much success, one might wonder why Shaver wasn’t a regular applicant for jobs that opened on the high school level. After all, a whole lot of really successful coaches got their start at the middle school/junior high level.

 

“I get asked that a lot and it’s because I was always happy here. It’s a great school with a great administration. Add to that you have (Athletic Director) Art Petitto who handles everything and why would you want to leave,” said Shaver. “I don’t have to worry about travel, collecting uniforms or doing so many things thanks to Art and that allows me to just coach.

 

“I realized that the grass wasn’t going to be greener elsewhere,” he continued. “The odds of coaching elsewhere and having as much satisfaction were small.”

 

A big reason for that were the kids that he coached. Even to this day, he said there’s nothing better than to see a former player and see how successful they’ve made it in life.

 

“The first thing you wanted to see as a coach was for them to accomplish goals with our program and, hopefully, watch them accomplish goals in high school. The big thing was to see them succeed later in life,” said Shaver. “I run into a former player like Chris Kerr and see him doing so well with his two kids or you see kids like C.R. Rohrbough or Chris Liebig and they’re doctors now. You watch a kid like Dan McNamee grow into a man and beat all the odds along the way … there were just so many special kids that they become like your own and you feel their success and even the pain. I know, to this day, the loss of Derek Hotsinpiller is still troubling to me, but I wouldn’t trade getting a chance to coach him and know him for anything. There’s real value to those relationships.”

 

Now, the coaching is officially over. The job has already been posted. There will be new blood on the BMS coaching staff this year.

 

“I’m sure I’ll miss it that first week of November when practice usually started. Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to feel other than I know I won’t miss tryouts. That was the hardest part of this whole thing,” he said. “I’m going to stay home with Katie and (my wife) Cyndi and be able to do things on Christmas and Thanksgiving with family.”

 

Those times were typically spent practicing. If not prepping, then the Braves were usually in a tournament, which meant family outings were usually one-day ventures at best.

 

“Cyndi already told me that she won’t know what it’s going to be like having me home. I hope that works out,” Shaver laughed. “I’ll always have those memories of those kids and watching my daughter grow up to the point where I’d carry her off the court with me after the games to where I held her hand because she was growing into a young lady. I guess I grew up and my family grew up with Bridgeport basketball. I don’t think we’d trade it for anything.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Bill Shaver during a Bridgeport City Council meeting where his squad was recogizned for another championship this past March. In the next photo, Shaver, standing far right, is shown with one of his early teams from the 1990s (photo courtesy of Chris Kerr). Bottom two photos show Shaver in recent years coaching the Braves.