HOUSTON — After two decades as a college standout, NBA All-Star and coach of the University of Houston, Clyde Drexler is leaving the basketball court for good.
Drexler said Thursday he's ending his two-year stint at his alma mater, which included mediocre 10-17 and 9-22 seasons, to spend more time with his children.
"It could not get any harder. You just can't do both," he said. "Because coaching is a challenge, it makes you want to come back. But if you do, you know you're going to be negligent in other areas.
"I don't want my kids to grow up and not have an active part in their upbringing, and that's what it comes down to," Drexler said.
Drexler acknowledged he has thought about leaving almost since he started coaching, which was immediately after his retirement from the NBA.
"Because of the time that it takes in the coaching profession, in the first week I was thinking, 'Boy, this is going to be a little bit more difficult than I thought,' " Drexler said. "But in an effort to try to help out and get it back, I hung in there, stuck with it and did as well as I could."
Drexler returned to the Cougars in 1998, hoping to take the school back to the basketball prominence it enjoyed in the early 1980s when Drexler was a member of the famed Phi Slama Jama teams that went to the Final Four three straight years. Drexler was a member of the first two of those teams.
Chet Gladchuk, Houston's athletic director, said he couldn't blame Drexler for leaving.
"He jump-started some things we asked him to do," Gladchuk said, crediting Drexler with bringing alumni back to the campus and improving recruiting.
"We were very competitive this past year," he added. "We've taken a giant step forward. We had a great recruiting class this year. What we've got to do now is capitalize on that and make sure it moves forward."
Gladchuk said it was too soon to comment on who might replace Drexler.
The Cougars will lose five seniors this season, including point guard Gee Gervin, who led the Cougars the past two seasons. Also departing are guards Roy Spears, Willie Moore and forward Kenny Younger.
Drexler leaves behind an outstanding recruiting class led by forward-center Alton Ford of Houston Milby. But Ford, who was last season's Greater Houston high-school player of the year, now says he will review his decision to sign a national letter of intent with the Cougars.
"I am going to have to sit down with my mom and weigh my options because this is a career thing," Ford told Houston television station KRIV.
"No doubt, this is a letdown, but then again he has to do what he has to do."
Ford told the station he might make himself available for the NBA draft.
"My heart is to play in college, but if the pro thing comes up, I'll have to consider that very hard," Ford said. "I am confident I can play at the highest level."