 After eight seasons as head coach of the Grand Rapids volleyball team, Brian Fiddle-Dye has decided to step down as head coach of the Thunder Hawks. Activities director Ann Campbell announced the news on Twitter earlier this afternoon with a tweet thanking Fiddle-Dye for his eight years of service with the program. In his eight years as head coach, Fiddle-Dye guided Grand Rapids to 164 wins, five Iron Range Conference championships, three section 7-3-8 championship game appearances, and two state tournament appearances. The biggest thing I'm going to miss is just the relationships that I've formed with the kids over our time together. I love competing in general. I know that I'm going to miss Adam and I'm going to miss just the general youthful enthusiasm that those kids brought to my life. And pretty much it's an issue of I feel like I've kind of lost my passion, or at least the level that I want it to be at. And I told the girls too that I don't feel like I'm able to commit as much time and energy as we basically require our kids and the rest of our coaches in our program to work with. And mentally I'm just not able to shut it off during the season. It just basically consumes my mind at all times, so I just felt it was the right thing to do and I'm pretty much at peace with it. Once the school board accepts Fiddle-Dye's resignation, a search for his replacement is expected to begin immediately. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.