FAYETTEVILLE -- David Ferrell announced Wednesday that he will step down as athletic director and high school boys basketball coach at The New School at the end of the school year.
Ferrell said he just feels like it's the right time to move on. He is not ready to say he's finished coaching, but it won't be at The New School next season.
"A coach knows sometimes you feel like it's the perfect time to leave," Ferrell said. "Over the last month or two I kind of felt that way. New School has been awesome to me, and I hope I have returned a small portion of that back to them. It's a great place, and we've gone from scratch. I mean literally seven years ago the gym wasn't even built to we've got volleyball, golf, bowling, cross country, track and field and basketball. What we've done in six years has been remarkable. We've had tremendous support from the school, administration and families.
"When you're a coach or athletic director, you just know when it's good timing. It's more of a feeling than anything. The timing feels right. My dad taught me to leave a place better than we found it, and I'm certainly proud where New School athletics is right now."
Ferrell has spent seven years at The New School, but the first year did not include a varsity basketball team. He's led the boys basketball team to six state tournament berths, along with four conference titles, three conference tournament titles and two regional crowns. This year's team finished 37-5 and lost in the Class 1A state tournament semifinals. He also led the golf team to a state runner-up finish this year. His high school basketball career record is 742-268 in 30 seasons and that includes a 208-32 mark at The New School.
The New School chose to move up in classification from 1A to 2A beginning next year.