During a timeout, head coach Sam Stroh talks with his team as Free State's boys basketball team played Mill Valley in Shawnee.

Free State High basketball coach Sam Stroh is stepping down, citing a desire to tackle “a new adventure” after seven years as the Firebirds head coach.

Stroh, who is calling it a career after 17 years as a high school basketball coach, leaves Free State after guiding the program to a 126-38 record in seven seasons.

Nine of those came as a varsity coach at Shawnee Heights and FSHS, where he won 162 games in nine seasons, good for an average of 18 wins per season.

“I’m sad to leave the coaching world,” Stroh told the Journal-World. “I’m especially going to miss it on Friday nights. But we had a good run, we had a lot of fun and it just seems like the right time to try something new.”

Stroh will be getting out of teaching and coaching altogether and plans to move his family to Nebraska. That, of course, includes his three children, — 11, 7 and 4 — who Stroh said probably would not be big fans of dad no longer leading the Firebirds.

“They thought going to Wichita every year was like going to Disneyland because they had a pool there at the hotel,” he joked. “Maybe now we’ll have some time to go to the real Disneyland.”

Those trips to Wichita came fast and furious. After missing out on a trip to state in his first year, Stroh led the Firebirds to six consecutive 6A state tournament appearances, including this year’s third-place finish. Free State never broke through to win a state title, but getting there year after year delivered a great sense of pride to Stroh, the program and the school.

He said he did not know back in March that the end had arrived. Opportunities for a new career only started to heat up in the past few weeks.

He told many of Free State’s returning players about his resignation on Friday morning, notifying parents and members of the Free State athletic community, as well.

“It was a hard conversation,” he said of telling the players. “But I wanted to be open and truthful and look them in the face and let them know that I’ll still be following them and rooting for them in the future.”

Free State Athletic Director Amanda Faunce, who also will be stepping down at the end of June, said a search to find Stroh’s replacement would begin next week. Free State is also in need of a new girls basketball coach after Chris Linner stepped down following his first year in charge of the girls program.

While the past couple of days have delivered a mixture of excitement and nostalgia, Stroh said he was appreciative of his time at Free State and confident that the program was in a good position for continued success.

“Seven years ago, when (then-FSHS AD Mike Hill) hired me, I told him I wanted to take the team and program to another level and I felt that we were successful doing that. … I’m proud of what we accomplished. That’s the tough part about leaving, leaving a good thing. But I feel like we’re leaving it in a good place and they’re going to hire a good coach who can keep it rolling.”

In addition to the six consecutive trips to state, Stroh led the Firebirds to Sunflower League titles in four of the past six seasons. Interestingly enough, it was the one team that did not win league or reach state that was top of mind for Stroh on Friday.

Stroh said his first Free State team, which started out 11-2 and “kept rolling from there” was a critical part of the program’s success during the past seven seasons.

“We owe a lot to that group,” Stroh said.

Stroh said two specific memories from that first season in 2015-16 have always stuck with him. The first came after their first ever summer league game the first week of June in 2015.

They got drubbed by 30 points by Lafayette High, from St. Joseph, Missouri, and seemed to be OK with the outcome.

“I just remember taking the boys into the hallway and saying, ‘This never will happen again,'” Stroh said, adding, ‘we’ve got to get to work and we’re going to compete.’ From that moment forward, that group put in the time to make the program what we wanted it to be.”

Later that season, after being down by 18 points entering the fourth quarter in a January game at Olathe Northwest, Free State’s Hunter Gudde hit a game-winning shot in the final seconds to give the Firebirds the victory.

“I’ll never forget the locker room after that game,” Stroh said. “Those guys really believed in each other. It was awesome.”

From Gudde, Kristian Rawls, Chrision Wilburn, Sloan Thomsen, Jacob Pavlyak, Darian Lewis and Shannon Cordes on that first team to seniors Mozae Downing, Jordan Brown, Jet Dineen, Dash Cleveland and more on his most recent team, and everyone in between, Stroh said it was the players and coaches he worked closely with that made his time at Free State so much fun.

“Great relationships, great people, great parents and obviously, our assistant coaches and our players; we will miss all of that,” Stroh said. “So that’s the sad part. But we’re excited for the adventure and what’s ahead, too.”

Free State Coach Sam Stroh yells to his team against Blue Valley North during the Boys Class 6A State Tournament at Koch Arena. Free State fell 51-42 Friday, March 11, 2022 in Wichita, Kansas.