KINGSTON — A coach that helped bring a four-year-old baseball program to State every year since it began has bowed out.

Scott McKay, Kingston High School’s head baseball coach, resigned from the position not long after the end of the football season. McKay, who is also the football  team’s defensive special team’s coordinator, said it was not a quick or easy decision to make.

So far, the pool of candidates to replace McKay is not an extensive list. And with the spring sports preseason less than two months away, the need to fill the position soon is great. Kingston’s Athletic Director Dan Novick said the school “has been blessed to find quality coaches” within the school itself. The challenge will be to find a quality coach before the preseason starts.

“Now it’s our challenge to carry the torch,” Novick said.

McKay resigned because of all the added responsibilities of a coach. He listed examples such as early morning preseason training — 5:30 a.m. — and not having much time between sports seasons.

One particularly difficult transition was during the 2010-11 season. The Bucs baseball team’s season ended after losing a rescheduled game against W.F. West on May 23. McKay said the next day he had to be on the football field to begin football preseason.

During his time with the program, which started during in 2007-08 when KHS opened, McKay and the Buccaneer baseball team earned a trip to State four years in a row. The team was eliminated in the first round in during the 2007-08 year and made it to the quarterfinals the three consecutive years after.

During that first postseason with the team, McKay said he was asked if he was surprised the team was doing so well. He wasn’t.

“Our expectation from the get-go was to play baseball the way it was supposed to be played,” he said. “We never went into it with a certain goal, but we believed we would be extremely competitive.”

While the team hasn’t won the Olympic League title or placed at State each year, McKay said he always got the most out of the players.

Novick said when he thinks of McKay as a coach one word comes to mind: perspective.

“He has such a great perspective on life in general and the lessons that can be taught through athletics,” Novick said.

McKay began coaching about 30 years ago, after playing football for Pacific Lutheran University. He was a graduate assistant coach for PLU for two years. This was during the time of Forrest Westering — known for his coaching record of 305-96-7, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics record. McKay was able to see and learn about the other side of coaching, including being an encouraging role-model, but who also can position players for success.

McKay brought those lessons learned after college to KHS. He said he thrived in positive athletic environments.

“I hope that’s something that kids that played here [at KHS] came away with,” he said, adding coaches are there to not only create better players, but also develop the players into young men.

With one less responsibility on his list, McKay said “it’s time in my life to scale back a bit.”

However, come fall 2012, McKay will be back on the gridiron.