Shepherd: ‘It’s just time’

Harold Shepherd still enjoyed coaching last season. But his thirst for winning had waned.

And that's why he knew it was time to get out.

'It's just time,” Shepherd said Thursday morning, a few minutes after telling his team he has decided to retire as head girls' basketball coach at West Delaware High School. 'It's time to give it to somebody younger, who has a little more energy.”

That closes the book on a 48-year, four-school run that produced a 777-334 record. Shepherd, 73, won a six-player state championship at Vinton in 1984, then led Vinton-Shellsburg to the Class 3A five-player crown in 1995.

'It's been my life for a long time,” he said. 'I've loved it, and I hate to give it up. But it's time.

'Winning just wasn't important to me this season, and I don't think that's right. The head coach of a program that is trying to be successful needs to be more competitive than that.”

Shepherd spent the bulk of his career in Vinton. He started at Elk Horn-Kimballton before arriving at Vinton, then coached at Jesup for two years. He served as an assistant at William Jewell College, then at Waterloo West before taking the job at West Delaware.

In five seasons in Manchester, he was 55-59, including 33-13 in the last two years. The Hawks were 16-7 this winter.

'Having Shep in our program has been a huge shot in the arm to a revival of West Delaware (girls') basketball,” said West Delaware Athletics Director Mike Morrison. 'Shep is a great coach, but an even better person. As a parent of a girl in the program, I could not have been more fortunate to have him coach my daughter.

'We will greatly miss his presence, but are very appreciative of the time he spent here.”

Shepherd's wife, Kay, recently retired as a nurse, and that entered into his decision.

'We're going to travel a little bit,” he said. 'I love spring-training baseball, and we're going to go spend a week watching that. We're going to take a trip to Hong Kong in September.”

Or, as he said in a text announcing his decision: '(I) probably won't crawl in a hole.”

Shepherd said he is open to serving as a volunteer assistant for someone at practices next season.

'I'm not excited about getting in a bus any more on a regular basis,” he said.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com