Lassiter football coach Greg Dirst resigned Tuesday following back-to-back 3-7 seasons with the Trojans.

Dirst, who compiled a record of 18-22 in four years at Lassiter, went 6-4 in each of his first two years before two straight losing campaigns.

Dirst informed his team of his decision at an 8 a.m. meeting, just one day after Lassiter's year-end banquet.

"(Dirst) just decided it was time to resign," said Lassiter principal Chris Shaw. "I think he felt that after going 3-7 two years in a row, that he felt like he needed to resign.

"He talked about it a little bit briefly with me before he officially (tendered his resignation). Our conversation went fine. He decided a few weeks ago that he was going to resign and he decided to wait to tell the kids (Tuesday) morning after our football banquet (Monday) night."

Dirst's first Lassiter team in 2004 showed promise. The Trojans won twice to begin the year, then dropped four straight before rebounding with four consecutive victories to finish the year with a winning record - their first since the 2000 campaign.

The momentum from that first season didn't translate to 2005, as Lassiter seemingly traded wins and losses throughout the year, resulting in another 6-4 mark.

The 2006 and 2007 seasons started slowly for Dirst and the Trojans, as the teams started 1-6 each year before finishing the season winning two of their final four games.

According to Shaw, Dirst waited to make the announcement Tuesday because he didn't want his resignation to sour on the team's football banquet.

"(Dirst) didn't want to announce his resignation before hand because he didn't want to take away the focus of the banquet from the kids," said Shaw. He just chose to resign in the best interests of Lassiter High School."

Steve Day, a football assistant at Lassiter and head wrestling coach, commented, "He just made the announcement to the team (Tuesday) morning. I haven't even talked to him about it yet. I didn't find out about it until later. Until I talk to (Dirst), I don't have any (comments or perspective on the situation)."

Dirst, who will stay on board as a teacher at Lassiter, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

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