Sometimes you just know it’s the right time to step away and for Liberty’s Chad Landis, his reign on sideline for the boys basketball team has come to an end.

Landis notified school administrators and his team last week that this would be his final season coaching - for now.

After spending the past 12 years as head coach and eight more prior to that as an assistant, Landis felt this was the right time to take a timeout.

“I’ve thought about this for the past three or four years,” said Landis about resigning. “I talked to my wife at the end of the season and I always felt like I could make this work, but this was the toughest year so far, having to miss so many of my kids events. It just felt like this was the right time to make that decision.”

Landis has four daughters--12-year-old Katelyn, 11-year-old Cassidy, 9-year-old Cameron and 5-year-old Karly--and they’re all involved in sports all year long.

With coaching any sport these days becoming more of a full-time commitment, it made sense to take the leap.

“Coaching is a grind anymore,” he said. “To step back and look at my calendar now is a relief, but I also know that I’m going to miss coaching. I’m going to miss the weight room and playing at Cedar Beach. Those things were fun.”

Landis leaves with a career mark of 198-113 winning three Lehigh Valley Conference titles and a District 11 championship in 2010, led by Darrun Hilliard, when the program made a run to the state semifinals.

While Hilliard, the Villanova product, will always go down as one of Liberty’s best players ever, those memories will also be cemented with Landis, along with countless former players, who always came back to support the program.

“Obviously, that year with Darrun and getting to the state semifinals was a great run,” Landis said of his favorite memories, “but one thing I always enjoyed was having our alumni day the past 10 years on Christmas Eve. Seeing so many guys come back on that day to play and catch up was one of my favorite things. I hope they can keep that going.”

While his coaching days are on hold for now, Landis acknowledged that he won’t be done forever.

“I hope to be coaching again at some point,” he said. “I’m just not sure when that’ll be.”