FSHS boys basketball coach Chuck Law instructs his team during a game against LHS on Friday, Feb. 27.

Former Free State High boys basketball coach Chuck Law is proud of what he accomplished with his team on and off the court for the past nine seasons. Now he just wants to give somebody else the opportunity to take the program in a new direction.

Law resigned from his head coaching position on March 9, a few days following Free State’s season-ending loss in the first round of sub-state to Shawnee Mission North.

“For me personally, it’s just time for a break,” Law said Monday. “It’s time for Free State to go a new direction with a coach. I’m really excited about where the program is right now. … It may not be the end of my coaching career either as an assistant or maybe again as a head coach, if that opportunity were to ever develop.”

Law, who was an assistant coach at FSHS for seven years and also was an assistant at Emporia High from 1993-98, previously declined comment until Lawrence High’s boys basketball season ended at the Class 6A state tournament to avoid taking any attention away from their accomplishments. He said there wasn’t a moment that led to his resignation, but the mental and emotional grind was a factor.

“It was something I’d been thinking about throughout the course of the year,” Law said. “It certainly was not a spur of the moment decision. I would say even as early as mid-January that the sense that maybe it was time for me to step down was kind of starting to develop. After that loss to Shawnee Mission North, it just seemed like it was the right thing to do.”

Law led the Firebirds to state tournament appearances in 2007 and 2013. Despite losing seven seniors from the previous year, Free State finished with an 11-10 record last season, and Law believes the next coach is “walking into a pretty good situation.”

“I’m very proud of the last group,” Law said. “I don’t think there was much of an expectation for those kids to have as much success as they did this year. I met privately with the seniors before I addressed the whole team on that day when I had told them that I had resigned and I told the seniors that I couldn’t have really asked for a better group to go out with in terms of five seniors who really bought in to what we were trying to get done as a team.”

Law intends to continue teaching at Free State and is looking forward to focusing solely on his duties in the classroom. He said he’ll miss the kids he coached, especially in the summer when he worked with the Firebirds in summer workouts and with younger kids in the summer league he ran with LHS boys basketball coach Mike Lewis.

“We’ve been kind of middle of the pack of the Sunflower League for pretty much the duration of my career with one exception when we finished in the top-three,” Law said. “Our overall record, I think we’ve had seven 10-win seasons, but we’ve never managed to win more than 13 games.

“I think at some point a person just has to be honest enough and big enough that it’s time for a change. I think we achieved what we could as a program with me at the helm, and now it’s time for someone else to come in and see if it can be taken to another level.”

Law noted that he’s received many emails, phone calls and text messages of support from former players, parents and opposing coaches. He also was appreciative of the help he’s received from the FSHS staff and his former assistant coaches.

“I walk away with good feelings,” Law said. “Just thankful for all of the people who supported me and the things that I tried to get accomplished at Free State over the years.”