Alvirne athletic director Karen Bonney has opted not to bring back boys basketball coach Marty Edwards for next season. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

HUDSON – Marty Edwards walked into Alvirne High School athletic director Karen Bonney’s office earlier this week – as the Broncos head varsity boys basketball coach – for what he thought was going to be a routine end-of-season evaluation.

He left her office as the former Alvirne boys hoop coach.

“She asked me what I thought of the season, I said I thought we had a good season,” Edwards said Thursday. “We had a lot of good moments. Based on all the adversity we had this season, not having a summer league,not having a fall league, losing two weeks in December, the whole bit.

“And she said ‘Well, I think we’re going to have to take a different direction. We’re going to have to let you go.’

“I was shocked.”

And thus abruptly ended Edwards’ four-year tenure as the Broncos head coach. The former longtime Bishop Guertin assistant took the Broncos to the tournament all four years, this past season losing to eventual champion Bishop Guertin in the quarterfinals after a preliminary round road win over Keene.

His best season was his first, with Alvirne going 14-8 and having the New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year, Max Bonney-Liles, In fact, Bonney was on the bench with Edwards as an assistant coach that season, seemingly by his invitation.

In 2020, the Broncos were 9-9 in the regular season but upset Bedford in the first round of the Division I tournament and were set to play at Portsmouth in the quarterfinals before the tournament was cancelled due to the tournament.

“I appreciate what Marty has done the last four years,” Bonney said yesterday. “He’s a great guy. I feel like we need to move in a different direction. And I don’t know what that’s going to look like.”

Edwards said that Bonney gave him the opportunity to resign, but he declined.

“That’s kind of like abandoning the kids,” he said. “I don’t want them to think I’m abandoning them.”

Edwards said he suspects that there may have been some parental unrest, but admitted he did not hear any complaints from parents during the season. When asked if parents were a factor, Bonney said “No.”

Edwards said that Bonney questioned him about some playing time issues, and Edwards said it was based on performance.

“Some other kids were stepping up,” he said. “Kids that were stepping up, you’ve got to give them a chance, you know?”

But Bonney told Edwards she felt he was “losing the kids”, according to the now former Alvirne coach.

Edwards said his old school style may have contributed to his demise. “I think that’s part of it,” he said. “I push the kids, I’m honest with them. I’m a traditionalist. If a kid talks back to me on the bench, I sit him. … It’s not just about basketball. It’s about having respect for yourself, for your players, your teammates.

“There’s other lessons in there. It’s not like these guys are going to the NBA. There’s life lessons there. … I rewarded the kids that stepped up, I rewarded them at the end of the season with more playing time.”

Bonney must now look to what the program’s future is in terms of a coach. She said that the job will be opened up in the building and district first by rule, but that she doesn’t think there are any viable internal candidates.

If that is indeed the case, then she will open up the position to the outside with the hopes of hiring a coach before the end of the school year.

“The kids deserve to know before they leave school (for the summer) who their coaches will be,” Bonney said.

The Broncos graduate six seniors, but could potentially have six seniors on the roster next year, led by highly regarded 6-8 center Brendan Graham.

“I’ve watched a lot of basketball,” Bonney said. “I’d like to see what opportunities are out there for a fresh coaching perspective.”

Edwards, who commuted from the Nashua area to Maine daily to coach Berwick Academy for two years before being hired at Alvirne, said he definitely wants to keep coaching, and will survey the landscape.

He is about 20 wins shy of a career 200 combined varsity and JV, and has never had a losing season at any level. It’s likely he’d wind up on someone’s staff as an assistant at the very least.

“It’s early right now,” he said. “Things tend to come up.”

In any event, both sides said there were no hard feelings.

“I have all the respect for everyone over there,” Edwards said. “And I thank Karen for giving me the opportunity.”

“This was not an easy decision,” Bonney said. “But at the end of the day, it’s not a personal decision, it’s a professional decision.”

A decision that no doubt will surprise many from the outside looking in.

Apparently it surprised Marty Edwards.

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