Taylor Hetherington, the head coach of Space Coast Crew women’s team announced his resignation Thursday. In a speech to the team, Hetherington told the girls that as soon as a new coach is found, he will be leaving so that he can spend more time with his wife and two children ages, 2 years old and 3 months.

“I’m stepping down to spend time with my kids,” Hetherington said. “They are always in bed and asleep by the time I get home, and although I love coaching, I need to be there for my family.”

He elaborated that although he is leaving, he would still be there to help out when the coaches take vacations.  

“I’m sure that this team will do great and that the captains will help transition smoothly to the next coach,” Hetherington said. “They have made my job easier and are very proactive.”

One of the head captains, Emily Eastwood (12), is taking on some of that responsibility.

“I have to be careful in how I adjust to the new coach because how I react affects the team,” Eastwood said. “I am also helping with creating a criteria for the hiring process because the new coach will be my seventh coach.”

Eastwood called Hetherington her best coach yet.

“I think Coach Taylor has made being a captain enjoyable and we think the same way,” Eastwood said. “He also has helped me in being recruited by college teams.”

The board is looking into new people to fill the position as head coach of the women’s team but have not come to a final decision.

Freshman Anastacia Devlin said several teammates cried when they heard Hetherington was stepping down.

“It was after practice and he had us in a little group,” she said. “He pulled out a letter and went from that to explain how he loved the team, loved working with us, and had a lot of great memories with us but he needed to spend more time with his kids.”

Devlin said that while Hetherington only began coaching the team last January, the girls are going to miss him. 

“On Halloween he rowed with us, which I thought was really fun because he got an understanding of how the boat felt,” Devlin said.

Hetherington plans to coach the team throughout the end of January.

“I feel like it’s good for him to spend more time with his kids,” said freshman Pierro Gouin, who is on the men’s team. “Like that’s important, even the kids lives will be affected by that, so it’s probably for the better.”

By Amanda Lally and Raven Morgan