Recently, Southwest Minnesota State University wheelchair basketball coach Lew Shaver resigned after serving as head coach for the past four seasons. His resignation from his position was effective immediately as of Feb. 1, 2013.

Shaver spent 29 seasons as the head coach at SMSU. He started the program in 1969 until 1978 after one season at the University of Illinois. He garnered 376 victories and led SMSU to three national championships.

“Lew came out of retirement in order to help us get our wheelchair basketball program back on track and he’s done a great job of working with me and our alumni,” said Director of Athletics Chris Hmielewski. “I believe Lew wanted to continue to enhance the coaching support and enhance the budgetary support of the program.”

“Having just been through an economic downturn over the last four years, the wheelchair basketball program never had a cut in budget and there was only more salary dollars put towards the coaching position but sometimes that doesn’t happen as fast as maybe Lew would have wanted it to.”

Exact reasons for Lew’s resignation are still unknown. With only six games left in the season, his retirement has left a huge impact on everyone involved with the program.

“As far as how Lew and I left things, very professional and very respectful,” said Hmielewski. “The only thing I can say about the timing of Lew’s resignation is that I was a little disappointed. With only six games left in the season, that’s a very tough place to put our athletic department,” he said.

The athletic department is currently scouting for a new head coach. No hints to how close they are to replacing Shaver have been mentioned but there are multiple prospects.

“With the history of our wheelchair basketball program, I think we’re going to have an opportunity to hire a very talented individual,” Hmielewski said.

Though the departure of Shaver was rather sudden, SMSU’s wheelchair basketball team has come together to finish out their season.

“Any time you have a shift like this in coaching, it challenges the entire group,” said Hmielewski. “When I met with that team, they were ready to move forward and they were ready to come together as a group to make sure that the wheelchair basketball program is strong and finishes the season on a positive note,” he added.

Shaver’s absence wasn’t ideal for the athletic department but everyone is looking to the future with a positive outlook and determined to finish out the season on a strong note.