GREENSBURG — The women's basketball season might be over at Seton Hill University.

Tony Grenek's time with the Griffins could be up as well.

Seton Hill, the No. 2 seed in the WVIAC Tournament, suffered a 76-64 upset loss to seventh-seeded Shepherd (W.Va.) Wednesday in the quarterfinal round.

That left the Griffins with a 22-7 overall record and wondering if they'll receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament when the field is assembled Sunday night.

In the meantime, Grenek, a 1990 Butler High graduate and former Butler County Community College men's basketball coach, is on the hunt for his own program.

He has been the top assistant under Ferne Labati at Seton Hill for four seasons.

"My goal is to become a head coach again," Grenek said. "This has been a tremendous experience for me at Seton Hill. I've learned so much. It's run like a Division I program."

That's because Labati is a Division I coach. She came to Seton Hill once she was fired after 17 years of coaching at the University of Miami.

If Grenek leaves, Labati still will have a coach on her staff with Butler County ties. Graduate assistant coach Courtney Callas, a Freeport High and Juniata College graduate, has another year before receiving her master's degree in business administration.

"I'll definitely be back," Callas said. "The girls have facilitated the growth of this program. They've been amazing.

"Coaching has become my passion. Tony is great with X's and O's, and Ferne is a great leader. They've been a very effective team."

Grenek learned of Labati's search for an assistant coach through his friendship with Seton Hill men's basketball coach Tony Morocco.

"When I coached at BC3, we played Seton Hill's junior varsity and I got to know Tony that way," Grenek said. "We developed a mutual respect and a good friendship.

"He told me Ferne was looking for an assistant, I applied and we've been together ever since."

At the time Labati and Grenek arrived at Seton Hill, the program was looking to move up to Division II from the NAIA. Their first year on the job, the Griffins played some Division II opponents, some NAIA opponents.

The 2008-09 campaign was the program's first as a Division II school and a full member of the WVIAC. Seton Hill finished 18-11 last season before going 22-7 this time around.

"Tony Grenek is an outstanding coach and an outstanding person," Labati said. "We built this program together. He's dedicated and determined.

"With his personality, he's a good communicator. It doesn't matter if he's coaching males or females."

Seton Hill has five seniors on its roster. All five were freshmen when Labati and Grenek took over the coaching reins.

The fact Callas is a student as well as a coach isn't lost on Labati.

"Courtney's brought a lot to this program in terms of strength and conditioning," Labati said. "She's a competitor. She went to the NCAA (Division III) Tournament as a senior and she's not far removed from that.

"Three things are important in college coaching: X's and O's, communication and recruiting. The three of us are on the same page in all of those. We like the same type of player. We can laugh and joke with each other, then be totally serious. They are wonderful, wonderful people."

Grenek was 64-66 in five years at BC3. That basketball program has fallen upon hard times since then.

"No scholarships, no dorms — people don't realize how difficult it is to win there," Grenek said. "If you can win there, you can win anywhere. I really believe that.

"I'm ready to be a head coach again. I wanted to stick it out with these seniors. Now I'm hoping I get my chance."

Callas echoes his sentiments.

"I admire him, his intuition for drawing up a play in the heat of the moment," she said. "Tony is on top of it. He has zero hesitation while making split-second decisions."