Brad Metzger had three good reasons for resigning as the boys basketball coach at Cedar Rapids Washington on Friday.

Their names are Travis, Ty and Taden.

They are Metzger's three sons - ages 11, 9 and 6 - and they played a major role in his decision to retire after just four seasons as Washington's head coach.

The fourth reason is Sandra, his wife.

"Now that my three sons are all a little older and much more busy, I have to make a choice on how many hours outside the school day I can commit to a group other than my wife and children," Metzger said. "The hundreds of hours a year it takes to coach basketball forces a decision.

"I have decided that the most important years in my children's lives, in which I have an opportunity to mold them, may be the next few years. I simply do not want to miss those years.

"My wife has been an amazing coach's wife, and maybe she will be again someday. She has given enormous support and assistance to the cause of coaching."

Metzger said he'd also like to focus more on education and possibly move into school administration someday. "With these two endeavors facing me, it is very hard to justify coaching at this point in my life," he said.

Metzger, 38, compiled a 48-45 record with the Warriors, but that mark was dragged down this season by a winless 0-and-21 campaign. His teams went 17-6, 14-9 and 17-9 his first three years and made two straight trips to the Class 4A state tournament in 2010 and 2011.

Josh Oglesby and Wes Washpun, the two stars of the 2011 club, played Division I college basketball this season, with Oglesby at Iowa and Washpun at Tennessee.

Metzger said his decision to resign had nothing to do with the winless record this year. He said he would have made the same decision if the Warriors had gone undefeated and won a state title.

"I can tell you without a doubt - and I know it might be hard to believe for some - had it been completely opposite (the won-loss record) the same decision was necessary, because time is time.

"The record is not the point. It's just all the time you spend before you play that game. There's 600 hours a year that probably goes into it. Only 40 or 50 of those are in the game.

"Five hundred-plus are in the preparation. I think it's something (resigning) that was inevitable either way. I've been through losing seasons before. They come and go."

Metzger coached at Seeger Memorial High School in West Lebanon, Ind., before coming to Washington.

Metzger teaches social studies and is a school facilitator at Washington. He plans to continue working at the school.