KENYON — Matt Addington has stepped down as the boys basketball coach at Kenyon-Wanamingo.
Addington, who turns 39 next week, had been the head coach at K-W for the past five years. He has been a head coach for 14 years overall.
"It was a tough decision," Addington said. "It's been one that I really mulled over and waivered with."
Addington said coaching has become a year-long job, and he wasn't sure his heart and head were entirely into it.
"Coaching is so much more than holding a clipboard and blowing a whistle," he said. "It's hard to preach to the kids about commitment and dedication when my heart isn't completely into it."
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He started his coaching career at Kenyon-Wanamingo right out of college. He spent three years as the team's head football coach and was an assistant in the basketball program when the Knights won the Class AA state basketball champion in 2001. Addington was the head basketball coach at Albert Lea for four years and the head coach at Lakeville South for two years after leaving K-W. He guided both Albert Lea and Lakeville South to state berths.
He returned to K-W where he has guided the Knights the past five seasons. He led the team to a Hiawatha Valley League Blue Division title during the 2010-11 season. The team later lost to Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in the subsection finals.
"It's been a blessing to do this," Addington said. "To be part of young people's lives and to be part of something in the community has been special."
Addington will continue to work part-time as an elementary school art teacher in Wanamingo. He also runs a photo studio in Cannon Falls.
"That really has become a full-time job," he said of the photo studio. "But it really had no serious bearing on whether to step away (from coaching). It was a lot of factors and a tough decision."
Addington also has a wife and family. He has three young children, ages 5, 3 and 5 months. He comes from a coaching family — his grandfather, father and uncle were all coaches — and didn't rule out returning in the future.
"If the right opportunity came along in the future I would consider it," he said. "Right now I'm just exhausted emotionally and physically."
