Longtime Triopia baseball, basketball coach dismissed

Coaches of three prominent sports at Triopia High School won’t be back on the sidelines as head coaches next season.

Boys’ basketball and baseball coach Brian Dour was relieved of his head coaching duties at a recent board meeting, while girls’ basketball coach Andy Phelps resigned from his post earlier this spring.

“The board voted me out of the two positions,” said Dour, who is a physical education teacher at Triopia Grade School. “I’ll have the same job I had this year, only I won’t be coaching varsity baseball or basketball.”

Dour said he had no intention of resigning from his dual coaching role. But Triopia superintendent Dr. Beth Pressler said the board felt it needed a change.

“The board thought that they were ready to take a different direction,” Pressler said. “They are grateful for what he’s done.”

Dour has been the head coach in both boys’ basketball and baseball at Triopia for eight years. He served as an assistant coach in basketball for three years prior to his promotion to head coach.

Dour said he wasn’t ready to stop coaching.

“I wasn’t ready to give it up quite yet,” he said. “But I have to do according to what the board’s decision is.”

Dour led a 2003-04 basketball team that finished the season with a 24-5 record. His baseball teams won three consecutive regional tournaments from 2004-06.

“I really enjoyed the time that I had there, seeing the kids kind of grow up,” Dour said. “I still have good friendships with most of the boys that have graduated, they still come back and talk to me, and I was happy with the amount of success we had in a short amount of time.”

Dour wouldn’t say whether or not he wanted to coach again.

“I’ve gotta bounce back,” he said. “Who knows where we’ll go from here, but for now I’m going to continue to be the physical education teacher at Triopia Grade School.”

Earlier this spring, Andy Phelps resigned from his post as girls’ basketball coach. Phelps, who does not work at the school, had served in the role for three seasons.

“It’s going to be my son’s senior year, and I really don’t want to miss any of his games,” said Phelps, whose son, Kellan, plays football, basketball and baseball. “That was the main reason.”

Andy Phelps will continue to assist the Triopia football team. Phelps was the team’s defensive coordinator for several years under Jay Wessler. He took over the head coaching position in 2006, then went back to his assistant role after Rich Thompson was hired to be the school’s athletic director and head football coach.

Phelps got to coach his daughter, Allison, during his tenure as girls’ basketball coach.

“I was fortunate enough to coach her for a year and I enjoyed that,” Phelps said. “I enjoyed coaching the girls for three years and I hoped they learned a lot and enjoyed it as much as I did.”

Pressler, who is leaving the district at the conclusion of the school year, said the job openings have been posted and that the school board is currently accepting applications.