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Skinner steps down at Ashland By Don Hunt ASHLAND � After 33 years of roaming the basketball sidelines, John Skinner has called it quits. Skinner, 63, resigned as the Ashland High boys basketball coach earlier this week. Athletic director Jim Nagel said Thursday that Skinner�s replacement may have to come from within the school district or the community due to state-wide budget cuts that are expected to leave the Ashland school district with few if any teaching openings for the 2002-2003 school year. Skinner will remain at Ashland as a counselor. In his five seasons with the Grizzlies, Skinner posted a 31-83 record, including a 12-60 mark in the Southern Oregon John Skinner WHO : Ashland High basketball coach resigned on Tuesday. RECORD: In five seasons, Skinner�s teams went 31-83, including a 12-60 mark in the Southern Oregon Conference. WHAT�S NEXT: The Ashland school district will form a search committee and hire a new coach by the end of April. Skinner will remain at Ashland High as a counselor. Conference. The team fell on particularly hard times the past two years, managing just one conference victory compared to 27 defeats. A group of parents met with Nagel to voice their concerns, although Skinner said he wasn�t pushed out the coaching door. "It�s always frustrating when you�re not winning, but the kids I coached at Ashland were hard workers and fun to be around," said Skinner, who made coaching stops at Glendale, Hidden Valley, Redding, Calif., and Portage and Bloomington, Ind., before landing in Ashland. "And one thing I was happy about this season was that the kids played tough to the very end. Sometimes in a situation like that, the seniors will tank it, but our three seniors (Bill Rowe, Titus Weston and Isaac Wright) kept their heads up and led the way to the end." Asked why he thought the program had struggled in recent years, Skinner said, "Who knows what happened? It�s a pretty tough league we�re in." Skinner arrived prior to the 1997-98 season. It was hoped that the veteran coach would provide some stability to a program that had fallen on hard times since its heyday in the late-1980s, when the Grizzlies made a couple trips to the Class 4A state tournament. But after leading the Grizz to an 11-13 record and a fifth-place finish in the SOC in 1998-99, they fell to 8-14 the following year and to 5-18 each of the past two seasons. One person close to the program, who requested anonymity, said that it lacked organization and continuity. No one disputed that Skinner was good to his players. "When I first came to Ashland (in 1983) we were winning conference championships and packing the gym," Nagel said. "But after (Jerry) Hauck left the program we went through some lean times. "It just doesn�t seem like we�ve had the real hard-core basketball types in recent years." Nagel said the district will open the position, form a search committee and likely have a coach hired by the end of April. But he isn�t holding out much hope that the district will be able to hire someone from outside the area. "We�ve got some people retiring but we�re (reducing the number of) teachers in our district," Nagel said. "If a position opens up then someone from within the district will probably take it." Whoever takes over the head coaching job will inherit three starting guards (Bryan Clevenger, Pat Palmesano and Chris Presicci) and a strong freshman team that went 16-4 this past season. The group of freshmen includes Skinner�s youngest son, Jeff. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.