``It’s just time,’’ Howard said on Monday. ``For all the right reasons, it’s time to let someone else take over.’’

Howard retired from teaching at CCS in 2000, and spends the winter months in South Carolina with his wife, Doris. He said he extended the lease on his condo next year through April, and wants to see his grandchildren compete in sports the next few years.

``I love working with the the kids and I will always care about the program, but it has to end sometime,’’ Howard said. ``I’ll miss some aspects, but I feel great about the decision. I want to go out on top, and by that I don’t mean just winning and losing but giving the kids all of my energy and enthusiasm. I don’t want to cheat them.’’

If he’s lost any passion for coaching, it certainly hasn’t shown itself in the results of the boys’ track team the last few years. The Redskins have won the Center State Conference for the past five seasons, a school record, and last year won the program’s first ever Section Three Class C-1 title.

``It’s hard to put into words what Don has meant to this program,’’ said CCS athletic director Mike Cring. ``He has great rapport with the kids, and even though he has built a powerhouse track program, his ability to interact with all of his athletes in a positive way is what I’ll remember him for.’’

Howard began coaching the varsity boys team at CCS in 1971, a year after Bill Eldridge retired in 1970. Eldridge began the track program at Cooperstown in 1946, and he and Howard are the only two boys track coaches in Cooperstown history. Howard started the junior high track program at Cooperstown in the spring of 1965 and coached on that level for six years before taking over for Eldridge.

Howard said the program should be in good shape next year with assistant coach Justin Hobbie, who replaced longtime assistant Al Bullard this spring, and volunteer assistant Joe Kennedy taking a more prominent role. [an error occurred while processing this directive]