BUTLER TWP — Once again, the timing wasn't right for Fred Skrocki — or was it?

Skrocki, who had spent the previous 24 years as the boys basketball coach at Schenley High School, had the opportunity to take over the Butler County Community College men's team last September.

"The job was offered to me in the fall, but the problem was should I keep coaching (at Schenley)?" said Skrocki, a Butler resident who also serves as pool manager at Penn Valley Athletic Club.

"I told (BC3 athletic director Rob Snyder) I couldn't do it and he called me back and said 'How about next summer?' since the job was going to be available again," he added.

The move paid off as Skrocki returned to Schenley and guided the Spartans to the PIAAClass AAAA championship and former BC3 coach Dick Hartung filled in last season with the Pioneers.

That allowed Skrocki to accept the position, which he had been denied two previous times: once during Hartung's first stint with the Pioneers in the 1980s and 1990s and once in 2000, when Tony Grenek got the job.

Skrocki leaves Schenley with 448 victories, six City League titles and the PIAAtitle last season (29-3). He was voted the PIAA Quad A Coach of the Year.

The Spartans were runners-up the previous year, losing the title by two points.

"When I'm asked what I'll miss the most, it'll be the kids," said Skrocki, who will still teach as a health and physical education instructor at Schenley for 2Z\x more years until his retirement.

"I did it for 25 years because I like working with kids. Now, it'll just be older kids. I knew DeJuan (Blair, a Pitt recruit) and D.J. (Kennedy) and those guys as freshmen. Kids are resilient. I still have to finish teaching there,"Skrocki added.

He couldn't see himself leaving the Spartans program with the start of last season just around the corner.

"I went in to talk with our principal and athletic director and it didn't seem to be right. We had a trip to Florida planned, two trips to Philadelphia and another to Virginia.

"It was a nice schedule and I didn't want to do that to those kids. It wasn't the right time."

Skrocki graduated from Perry High School in 1969, then received an associate's degree from the Community College of Allegheny College in 1972 then moved on to Slippery Rock University, where he graduated in 1975.

He then received a master's degree in health and physical education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982.

It was about that time he took the job at Schenley. He had looked into other jobs but nothing seemed to pan out.

"When Hartung got the job, they had to bring in five people. He was on the scene there and I knew that. Then in 2000, Tony got the job.

"I used to apply at different jobs. I don't know how many times I applied for the Butler (High School) job. Mark Jula got it, George Abraham got it. I figured, to heck with it.

"Now, I see they have a good situation and it got to be a good point in time to try something different,"Skrocki added.

Skrocki said the age of the players might be different, but he's not too concerned about making the adjustment.

"My feeling is, if it was only four or five years in high school, I'd think, 'Oh, what would I do?' But, in 25 years, I'm set in my ways and I can get the kids working."

It takes about one hour for Skrocki to drive to Schenley High School from Butler, but with traffic, it's about 1Z\x to 2 hours coming back.

He'll still make that trip for a few more years until his retirement, but he won't have to attend basketball practice there. Now, he can just travel a few miles down the road to coach the Pioneers.

"The field house is beautiful," said Skrocki. "We never had a locker room at Schenley. The kids would just get dressed in my office."