After six years of leading the Lady Vikings basketball team through both triumph and defeat with a whole lot of laughter, beloved basketball coach Terry Moran-Hodge will be stepping down to focus more time on his construction business.

“I really enjoyed coaching and I enjoyed the kids a lot,” he said. “If I won the lottery I would coach until I was in my ‘80’s … everybody understands. To do the program right, you gotta spend a lot of time on it off season. Everybody’s been really positive about it. I feel sad about it still.”

He’s not the only one who wishes he would win the lottery instead: many players and parents are sorry to see him go.

“He’s the best coach I’ve ever had for any sport,” senior Lanie Padbury said. “In practice he would run every single drill with us, and it made us want to work harder because he was always there doing everything with us. He was always ready to be serious or goofy with us. All four years with him were definitely very fun.”

Senior Stefanie Shaw remembers a practice when Moran-Hodge showed up with a knee brace on, and ran drills with the team anyway.

“I could probably say a million things about him,” she said. “He’s such an outgoing person and an amazing role model for all of us. He always kept everything lighthearted even when he was running us; that’s why we always wanted to do our best for him. He’s never not run with us, ever. Usually he could keep up with me. I let him win a couple of times … He was like a father to all of us. I owe so much to him; he’s really a great guy.”

Senior Emily Diepenbrock agrees.

“I totally enjoyed the experience with him; he’s really a great coach,” she said. “He puts so much effort in and it just shows throughout the season. He pushed all of us to become better players and was encouraging.”

Senior Alison O’Toole said, “Throughout the season he wasn’t just a great coach he was also a great friend to all the team members.”

Moran-Hodge began coaching in 2004 when his daughter, Melissa, was a freshman on the team, and enjoyed it so much that he continued coaching even after she graduated.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “Our goal in every game was to have fun; the kids had fun and were successful.”

Over the past four years the girls have gone to Tri-District four times, winning the Tri-District championship in 2009. The team capped it off with a trip to the state championships in both 2009 and 2010.

Moran-Hodge said practices were “the most rewarding thing of all” and he will miss that aspect of coaching more than anything. He says he loved watching players master skills and develop a team mindset. With Moran-Hodge’s high school and college track background, he set a special focus on conditioning, allowing the team to run a full-court press throughout each game and to wear down the competition.

“There’s no track team to coach, so I made my own mile relay team,” he joked.

Moran-Hodge is grateful for all the encouragement and logistical support provided by parents and community.

“The parental support made my job so much easier,” he said. “That was really rewarding. Whenever I needed something, they would do it. That’s what’s hard to walk away from: it’s such a great community.”

Moran-Hodge announced his resignation shortly after the annual awards banquet this winter to allow the athletics department time to plan for next year. His successor has not yet been chosen.