Sunday, Jul. 17, 2011

Bissette resigns from Green Hope

Falcons AD will not return

Mickey Bissette, who has overseen one of the state's most successful high school athletics departments, has resigned from his post as Green Hope athletics director.

He said he wanted to pursue other opportunities, but declined to offer specifics.

Bissette had been at Green Hope since the school opened in 1999 but will not return in any capacity next year.

"It's a difficult decision to make, but sometimes change can be good," Bissette said. "Hopefully this can be good for everybody."

The last two years, Green Hope has won the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A Wachovia Cup, which is awarded to one school in each classification for overall sports excellence. Points in the Wachovia Cup competition are awarded for fielding teams and for advancing in the playoffs.

"He has been our athletics director for five and a half years and under his leadership we have seen overall growth in the athletic department," said Jim Hedrick, the Green Hope principal. "Three years ago, we were second in the Wachovia Cup and we have won it the last two years. I think that certainly reflects his acumen."

He was also the school's first varsity boys basketball coach, leading the program's first 11 seasons and taking the team to seven straight playoff appearances from 2003 to 2009.

He added athletics director to his job description in 2006.

"I was ready to take that challenge (of being an athletics director), and after five and a half years, I'm at the point where I want to do something else," he said. "It was fun - a lot of good people to work with. The coaching staff has been good, the student-athletes here have been great. I've really enjoyed working here and watching Green Hope grow in stature."

Bissette resigned as boys basketball coach during last summer, hoping it would lighten his workload. He was going back into the classroom as a math teacher but was already juggling the roles of athletics director and boys basketball coach.

But Bissette soon found himself missing out on coaching - something he done for more than two decades with a 12-year run at Millbrook as JV boys basketball coach.

"When the season started, I didn't really think it was that bad," Bissette said. "Then when the games started, it got really tough and it was one of those things where you're like 'I really am missing this.'"

Hedrick said Bissette not only set the tone for the athletics department, but also modeled expectations and behavior as a coach.

Staff Writer Tim Stevens contributed to this report.