LITTLE ROCK — Even after a second consecutive one-victory season, Cary Shelton was wanting one more chance to turn around the Arkansas-Pine Bluff women’s basketball team.
But with a contract that expires this summer and no assurance from his boss that it would be renewed, he didn’t have many options.
So Shelton, two weeks after his third season at UAPB ended with a 1-29 record, resigned as Lady Lions’ coach Tuesday, ending a three-year run that included a 10-79 mark.
“I’m responsible for the team. I don’t make any excuses. I just didn’t get it done,” Shelton said Wednesday, a day after offering his resignation to UAPB Athletic Director Lonza Hardy.
“If I had another year, I felt strongly that we would have won. But just not winning, that really bothered me.”
Who will lead the Lady Lions until Shelton’s replacement is named has not yet been decided.
Hardy said Wednesday he has not appointed an interim coach and a UAPB athletic department release said Shelton’s resignation was “effective at the conclusion of his contract on June 30, 2012.”
But Shelton said Wednesday that he’s “done as basketball coach” and hadn’t planned on staying on through June.
Hardy said that’s still an option.
“I do know that he does have a contract through the end of the year, which we would be obligated to honor,” Hardy said. “I will need to, over the next few days, see what our options are or see if we’ll be able to bring in another coach prior to that.”
Regardless of who leads the Lady Lions through June 30, Hardy said he wasn’t surprised by Shelton’s resignation.
Shelton was elevated from assistant to head coach after Danny Evans was fired in 2009 and the Lady Lions went 8-22 in his first season. They went 1-28 last year.
“He explained that he had his opportunity with the program over the last three years, said that he gave it his best shot,” Hardy said. “With the team, he was still as positive as you would expect a coach to be. But I know he was disappointed.”
Shelton said he and Hardy discussed his future beyond the end of his contract, which he signed in 2009, before and after the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament. But Shelton said he was given no assurance following a 69-46 loss in the first round to Mississippi Valley State on March 6 that he would be given any more time.
“I wanted another year,” Shelton said. “I wanted another year to maybe come in and see it out. ... [Hardy] was thinking about it. He hadn’t made a definite decision.”
Hardy said he and Shelton never discussed a renewal, but would have considered that option if it had come up.
“I would have listened to his pitch to me about doing that,” Hardy said.
Shelton, speaking by phone Wednesday, said he thought about resigning six games into the SWAC season. Following a 57-36 loss to Texas Southern on Jan. 12 in Houston, Shelton said he struggled to find encouraging words for his team, which had fallen to 0-17 on the season and had lost its 29th consecutive game.
He choked his way through a postgame talk, allowed his players to watch the men’s game that followed and he then sat alone on the team bus.
“I just went with myself,” he said. “ ‘What am I doing? Am I the right man for the job? Did those young ladies need someone to come in and take them to another step, another level?’ ”
He said he decided against resigning upon his return Pine Bluff after a conversation with his wife. UAPB then went almost another month before winning its first game. The Lady Lions’ 69-52 victory over Texas Southern on Feb. 18 in Pine Bluff snapped their losing streak at 36 games. UAPB then lost its final five games.
Shelton said a recruiting strategy that revolved around high-school players rather than more-experienced junior-college players possibly hindered his team’s growth.
“But still, it was my choice,” Shelton said. “One part of me wanted to go high school and I did that. I can’t go back and forth on my mistake. Bottom line: I just didn’t get it done.”
Hardy said NCAA Division I experience is a preferred trait of the next coach, but not a requirement.
“Somebody that has the skills and who can come in and motivate our student athletes and bring good student athletes to the program,” Hardy said, “and take us where we want to go.”
Sports, Pages 18 on 03/22/2012