By Corey J. Corbin

Allied News Sports Editor

If the Mercer girls basketball team is to qualify for the District 10 Class AA tournament for the third straight season, the Lady M’s will be guided by a first-year coach.

Six-year coach Art Amos abruptly stepped down as the Lady M’s coach recently.

“There was no one reason,” Amos said. “One of the things when I took the job at the beginning was I wasn’t looking at this as a long-term. It was taking the job until someone would come along and replace me. I’ve been in coaching something for over 30 years now. I thought after 30-plus years that it was time to move on.”

Many people may cite the graduation of his youngest child and former Mercer basketball standout Sarah, but Art Amos noted it was a minor factor.

“Everyone has asked me that,” he said. “I’m not going to deny that factor. It was a minor factor.

“For most people who coach their kids, it can be a rewarding experience. It’s not something everyone can do. You have to have a special relationship with your own kid. They have to be able to separate dad from coach in the gym. If the kid can’t separate that, it makes it more difficult. As the coach, you have to separate yourself as the father and coach them like you would any one else in the gym. It was very rewarding to coach her, especially how she concluded her senior year.”

Six years ago with Sarah in the junior high program, Amos was concerned about the state of the girls program and has restored it to its former glory.

“My main goal when I took the job was I wanted to leave the program in a fairly competitive state,” Amos said. “I wanted to leave it better than when I got there with those lean years, which is no reflection on any one person in the past. With a small school like Mercer, you’re going to have years like that. Our numbers are up and are pretty solid all the way to the elementary.

“What we have accomplished in the program, there’s no way that I deserve all the credit. Doug Schmid has been a very dedicated and loyal assistant coach. He’s been down in our junior high program. He stresses fundamentals. Doug deserves just as much credit as I do for getting the program turned around.”

His relationship with the returning players made stepping away even more difficult.

“It was very difficult,” Amos said. “I had been talking closely with Mike Piddington, our athletic director, since the end of the season. In fact, I had done this the previous year. It was very difficult, because you get very close with these student athletes. They’re almost like one of your own. This was a group that we worked with them from the junior high up. We became very close. That’s a very good group of kids — not necessarily reflecting on basketball but as a person. When you have good kids, that makes it even more difficult to step away.”

Amos, though, is unsure of whether he’ll ever return to stalk the sidelines.