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Heard's ride with Comets appears over MT file photo Crater coach David Heard has compiled a 159-49 record in his eight-years at the school. By TIM PYLE Mail Tribune Today could well mark the end of a dominant eight-year era. Crater High girls basketball head coach David Heard has scheduled a press conference for 9:45 a.m. this morning at Scenic Middle School. After completing his eighth season with the Comets by finishing seventh at the Class 4A state tournament in Portland on March 2, Heard said he was mulling a resignation. "I'll make my decision March 15," Heard said then. "I've been thinking about it ever since I started having kids and a family." Neither Heard - who has two kids, ages 3 and 6 - nor Crater athletic director Dan Speasl returned phone calls Tuesday evening. In eight seasons directing Crater, Heard has transformed the Comets into a state powerhouse. Crater has won three consecutive Southern Oregon Conference titles - going 41-1 in conference action in that span - and six crowns overall in Heard's eight years in charge. Heard was an all-conference standout for the Ashland boys in the mid-1980s and went on to play at Southern Oregon State College (now Southern Oregon University). Despite limited experience coaching girls, Heard was hired as a 27-year-old to replace the retired Don Molloy as the Comets' head coach in April of 1994. Molloy had led Crater to six postseason appearances in his 11 years at the helm, but he had a premonition that the fiery Heard would be quite a find for the Comets. "He's got a good basketball background, he's extremely well-organized, he's a disciplinarian and he has a heck of a lot of energy," Molloy said then. "And he has good rapport with the kids. "David has the whole package - I think that will be borne out in the years to come." And it has been, to the winning tune of a 159-49 career record (.764) for Heard with Crater. Throw out the Comets' 5-17 overall mark and 3-13 SOC finish in Heard's first year (1994-95), and Heard is 154-32 overall (.828) and 94-10 in the SOC (.904). Heard's teams have also enjoyed the most success of any in school - and conference - history at the state level, finishing second in Class 4A in 1997-98, 1999-2000 and 2000-01. His most recent team was seeded second heading into the state tournament with a 23-1 record and was thought to be perhaps Crater's best shot ever at that elusive state championship. But after winning their first-round game, the Comets were upset by Glencoe, 45-41, in the quarterfinals. Crater won one consolation game before losing to Central Catholic in the fourth-place contest. It was a disappointing end to remarkable careers for stars Amy Denson and Sarah Pool, who finished 1-2 on the Comets' all-time scoring list and at or near the top of myriad other categories. Denson will play basketball at Arizona State next year, while Pool heads south to California-Berkeley. The two were named the SOC's co-players of the year this season, and former teammate Jody McLeod earned the same distinction - the program's first - in 2000-01. Heard's dazzling accomplishments at Crater warranted SOC coach-of-the-year honors just twice in the minds of his fellow conference coaches, who vote for the award. Heard was named coach of the year in 1995-96 and co-coach of the year in 1996-97. When asked March 2 whether he would consider a coaching job somewhere other than Crater, Heard, an administrator in the Central Point school district, said, "No, no, no. I'm not going anywhere else." Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.