ADAMS TWP — It's going to take a while for people involved with the Mars varsity girls track and field team to get used to the idea that Tim Tyler is no longer the squad's head coach.

And you certainly can't blame them.

Tyler, 57, announced he is stepping down from that capacity at the team's banquet May 22.

"There's a time to get out," said Tyler, who also is retiring as a sixth-grade social studies teacher in the school district. "I knew before the season that this would be my last year."

Tyler, a resident of Butler, coached Mars' girls for a total of 26 years. But his connection to the program goes well beyond the length of his tenure.

That's because it was Tyler who started the program back in 1972.

"At the time, there were no other sports available to the girls during the spring," Tyler said. "It gave them something else to do."

And the school's females responded in a big way.

"That first year, we had 150 girls come out for the team," added Tyler.

"Clem Papik helped me out a lot in those first couple of years," Tyler said of the longtime boys track and field coach at Mars. "I saw the organization he had with his team and it helped me out a lot."

Tyler stayed on with the girls team for seven years before stepping aside following the 1979 season to spend more time with family.

Tyler and his wife ended up having a daughter, Casey, in 1979 and a son, Cody, three years later.

"I always said that when our kids came along, that I was going to step down to be there for them," he said. "But I always knew that I would end up coming back to coach track."

It just so happened that when Tyler was ready to make his return, during the 1987-88 school year, the head coaching job was vacant.

"I guess I could have come back as an assistant. But, after you've been a head coach, it's tough to be an assistant," he said.

His second stint would last 19 seasons, officially coming to an end last weekend at the PIAA championship meet at Shippensburg University.

The most impressive statistic concerning Mars girls track is that the squad has never had a losing season in its 34 years. Also part of that streak are Papik and Herb Wellman, the two head coaches during the eight seasons in which Tyler was not part of the team.

But most important to Tyler are the team members themselves.

"I've never worried about records," he said. "I remember the kids more than I remember the numbers.

"I see a lot of the old kids around. I call them kids, but the first group I coached, they're now in their 50s."

Tyler will stay on as boys golf coach at Mars. He will be entering his fifth year in that position next fall.

As for track and field, you can't expect somebody who has been around it as much as Tyler to give it up completely.

"I'm looking to do some officiating at track meets," he said. "And I'll probably help (Mars athletic director Scott Heinauer) out with the invitationals at Mars."