Alan Bauman resigned recently as Knoch boys basketball’s head coach after five years. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Knoch boys basketball coach Alan Bauman has stepped down following a 19-8 season in which the Knights reached the PIAA Tournament for the first time in nearly two decades.

In five seasons as the program’s head coach, he reached the WPIAL playoffs four times.

“It was a family decision,” said Bauman, the Butler Eagle’s 2023-24 Boys Basketball Coach of the Year. “It just got to a point (where) there was a lot of stress. I just thought it was what’s best for me and our family.”

Bauman said he appreciated the support athletic director Josh Shoop, Knoch High School principal Todd Trofimuk and assistant principal Kurt Reiser gave his program. Bauman said his sons, Jackson and Brody, were disappointed to hear of the decision, but understood his reasoning.

“I put my heart and soul into the program for five years,” Coach Bauman said. “We had a lot of success the last two, building up to it. It’s just time to move on, that’s all.”

Bauman’s Knights made the WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals this season, then won consecutive consolation games to finish fifth and make the state tournament for the first time in 19 years.

They lost to Cathedral Prep 70-57 in the first round of states.

Bauman put together a 56-61 record over his five years at the helm. He’ll rest easy knowing the program is in good hands.

“I think it was easier knowing that the program is, I think, in a really good spot,” he said. “I thought that, when I took over, Coach (Ron) McNabb had it in a really good spot for me to come in, and I’m hoping that it’s the same here.

“It’s never easy to step away from something that you’re passionate about and you love doing, but, at the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for you and your family.”