Boys Basketball: Brennan Callahan steps down at Sandwich

One would think that at 37 years of age Brennan Callahan wouldn't even consider retiring from coaching basketball.

But indeed Callahan recently did make the tough decision to step away from coaching the Sandwich boys basketball team to spend more time with his wife Laney and their growing family.

Callahan — a 1999 graduate of Seneca and a 2004 alum of Lewis University — had spent the last five years as the Indians head coach. He compiled an overall record of 67-84 and most recently a 2017-18 season mark of 14-15.

But the demands of the position and Callahan's dedication to his craft often pulled him away from his family that includes daughters Landrie (10 years old), Layken (8), and Lachlan (6) as well as his young son Shea (4).

So after some tough discussion and contemplation, Callahan regrettably stepped away from coaching at least for the foreseeable future even though he's still a young man.

"It definitely wasn't an easy decision and it was certainly something I talked over a long time with my family," Callahan said. "After looking at our kids' schedules and what they had going on this summer with sports it was a choice of knowing what I had to do for my family and knowing what I had to do for my kids."

Callahan will continue to help coach his daughters' various teams now with much more time to do so after stepping down from the Indians helm.

But it wasn't something he relished doing considering the progress he helped develop throughout the Sandwich basketball program while also knowing he had all but one player returning to the varsity floor for the 2018-19 campaign.

"It was hard especially knowing what we've built over the past five years within a Sandwich community that has been very, very supportive as well the SHS administration too," Brennan Callahan said. "It was a tough decision basketball-wise but an easy one family-wise. It was very difficult however to pull the team in and tell them what was going on, where I was headed, and what I was going to do. But I think they all understood and I know they'll be a pretty good ballclub next season with all that talent returning."

Brennan Callahan hopes his trusted assistant coach Jim Braddish will take over the reigns as the Indians head basketball coach next season and believes he'd do a great job.

"I don’t know what's going to happen, but I think Jim should get it and would probably be the best choice in order to preserve the continuity of what we've been doing the last five seasons," Brennan Callahan said. "But that's not my call and I think whatever is decided will be well thought out by the Sandwich administration."

As far as ever returning to coach varsity basketball down the line in the future?

"I'll be out there to watch the Indians a little next fall and maybe me not coaching ever again might not end up being a permanent thing," Callahan. "But right now it is and as far as coaching high school basketball it's over for me and I really enjoyed the years I spent as head basketball coach at Sandwich."