‘I’ve got do what’s best for my family.’ Butler High basketball coach resigns
Butler High School boys basketball coach Myron Lowery has resigned, he told the Observer on Thursday.
Lowery said he recently completed his 30th year coaching and teaching and has been a head coach for 23 years with stops at Harding, Providence and Butler.
His teams won 349 games and six conference championships and he led Butler to the Western Regional championship game in 2017. He coached teams to two N.C. 4A quarterfinal appearances.
Lowery, who is staying on at Butler as a teacher, said he wasn’t planning to move but hoped to find another coaching opportunity.
Head high school basketball coaches in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools receive a stipend of $3,453.10 in addition to their salary. In nearby Rock Hill School District 3, for example, a coach like Lowery would receive a $7,277 stipend.
In the past, some CMS coaches who were eligible for full N.C. retirement have taken jobs at private school or in South Carolina, which allowed them to receive their new coaching and teaching salaries plus their N.C. retirement pay.
“It’s a difficult decision,” Lowery said, “but when it comes down to what’s best for my family, and especially when there’s been so many times my family has had to play second fiddle, I have to put them first now.”
Lowery said he has a daughter about to go college at Clemson and another a few years behind.
“Not everybody gets to go to college for free,” Lowery said. “You gotta man up and do what’s best for your family.”
Former Butler head coach Kurt Wessler has been serving as an assistant under Lowery. Wessler’s son Patrick, a 7-foot sophomore, is the Bulldog’s star.
Asked if Wessler would be a good choice to succeed him, Lowery said, “I think they should go through the process and there’s a lot of really good people there at Butler, within the Butler coaching ranks, and I’m sure they will pick the best person.”
