By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Long-time Eastern Alamance girls’ basketball coach Tim Krotish has retired as a teacher, making his future as a coach unclear.
“I’m not sure what that’s going to look like,” Krotish said Tuesday.
Krotish, 61, stepped away late last month from his role as a history teacher. As required, he won’t be eligible for rehire at a public school for six months.
Krotish’s teams produced a 504-255 record in 29 seasons. The Eagles finished 13-13 in the recently concluded season, finishing with four consecutive losses that included a first-round exit in the Class 3-A state playoffs with a setback at Fayetteville Sanford.
“It has been a wonderful career. The good outweighed the bad,” Krotish said. “Couldn’t have written a better script.”
Next, he said he might explore latching on with a college program.
“If I don’t look and don’t try, I won’t get an opportunity,” he said.
Krotish, 61, is a 1979 Eastern graduate. He said since the pandemic, he noticed what he described as a change in attitudes with students, and he wasn’t enjoying his teaching role as he had in the past. He spent 33 years as a teacher in the school district.
“COVID was a game changer,” he said. “And not for the better in most cases.”
Eastern athletics director John Kirby said there’s no rush in filling the coaching vacancy. With teaching openings also at soon-to-open Southeast Alamance, there could be several moves connected to coaching positions.
The timing of the retirement wasn’t by accident, Krotish said. This is prime time for collegiate staff openings, and it also allows six months to pass before the 2023-24 high school season if he ends up pursuing that route – at Eastern or elsewhere.
“It would be a little weird going anywhere else,” he said. “But like they say, one door closes and another door opens.”
