COEUR d'ALENE - Kent Leiss said Thursday he was "disappointed" to learn he will not be back as Coeur d'Alene High boys basketball coach next season.

Leiss was told Thursday morning at a meeting with Coeur d'Alene High principal Warren Olson and athletic director Todd Gilkey that they would recommend to the school board that he not be the Vikings' coach next season.

"The reason they gave on the recommendation, they basically said I don't do a good job of creating relationships with my parents and my players," said Leiss, who had been the Vikings' coach for the past 10 seasons. "That was the first time I got that evaluation in my 24 years of coaching. I personally think I had a pretty good relationship with my players — I spent more time with my players and at that school, with kids, in the offseason, with workouts, as much as any other coach.”

“We are looking at the overall health of the boys basketball program and believe we need to change the direction of the program,” Gilkey said in a statement. “Our recommendation to not re-hire coach Leiss will go to the board for the April 8 board meeting.”

Leiss, 49, resigned under pressure Feb. 1, two days after a group of parents of players met with Coeur d’Alene school district officials, saying Leiss verbally abused players.

Leiss rescinded his resignation five days later, but was not allowed to return as coach, pending an investigation by district officials.

Last week, Leiss expressed frustration that the issue had not been resolved, saying he was being asked about making plans for offseason workouts and games for the team — but not knowing if he was going to be the person in charge of those decisions.

“I’m just real disappointed in the process of evaluating coaches, and administration and parents communicating with coaches when things aren’t going well,” Leiss said. “There wasn’t one parent who ever contacted me this year, that they felt their kid was being mistreated. And never was there ever an administrator, ever, that pulled me aside and said ‘We’re hearing that there’s issues with how you’re getting along with your players.’

“That’s the most disappointing thing to me, is the lack of a process,” Leiss said. “I just feel like the school district got overwhelmed with a few parents that were complaining, and they weren’t sure how to handle it.”

Leiss said he wanted to take some time to decide if he wanted to coach somewhere else, or remain at Coeur d’Alene High as a teacher.

Coeur d’Alene was 10-7 and coming off three straight losses when Leiss resigned. The Vikings went 3-3 under interim coach Darren Taylor, and failed to qualify for the state 5A tournament.

Leiss’ coaching record at Coeur d’Alene was 140-91. In 24 seasons overall as a head coach, he is 318-216.