It's official: Ryan Pierce resigns after seven seasons as head coach

Here's the official story at the Journal-Standard.

I, for one, will miss covering the Pretzels with Pierce as their coach. He gave great information and I think plenty of us enjoyed him and his two boys Jayden and Bayley during games and such.

It's tough dealing with parenthood and coaching at the same time and you have to sacrifice a lot to continue being a success, even at the prep level.

Few can handle it, and you could tell late in the year coaching was wearing him down. His wife works nights, so does he, and I think he would just like to see his family grow.

I had a great time covering the Freeport girls not only because the team was talented, but partly because of him.

He's your reporter's favorite coach and they don't come around often.

Good luck with school administration, Pierce. Just like in coaching, I'm sure you'll be great at whatever comes your way.

And hopefully Jayden beats Ependymoma and the Boylan boys basketball team years from now.