UC Davis men’s basketball coach Gary Stewart will pursue administrative duties in the school’s athletic department, stepping down after eight years as coach.

UCD Athletic Director Greg Warzecka made the announcement Wednesday morning.

“Gary and I have chatted about it for a few months,” Warzecka told The Enterprise. “You know, when you go through the rigors of transitioning to Division I, it’s tough. This is a mutual understanding.”

Stewart, reached in Houston where he’s directing a college all-star game Friday night at the NCAA Final Four, said he was looking forward to “interacting with the students in the classroom again” and hopes he has many more years in Davis.

“I feel like I given a lot to the program,” Stewart, 49, said Wednesday. “But this affords two things — it’s a chance for the program to recharge … and it’s a chance for me to do the same thing.”

Warzecka said when the Aggies began the move to D-I status eight years ago, “I knew we’d be OK in the Olympic sports, but if you remember, I said how extremely difficult that (transition) would be in men’s basketball.

“Sometimes the external population is naïve to how difficult the move from D-II to D-I can be,” Warzecka continued. “I’ve always thought that men’s basketball rose up to that challenge.”

UCD was 4-12 in Big West play in 2010-11 and did not qualify to participate in the conference tournament for the second time in three years. The Big West has nine teams and the top eight earn trips to the postseason event.

“Stewart will take on a number of assignments within the department,” a prepared statement by university read.

Through June 30, Stewart will be a special-projects administrator and “will work with senior-level admininstrators on assigned projects deemed necessary and appropriate to assist in the advancement of the athletics program,” the statement added.

Warzecka points to the recent retirement of Aggie women’s coach Sandy Simpson as a similar situation.

Stewart, like Simpson, said the “time is right” for a professional change.

“I have had a wonderful experience coaching basketball at UC Davis,” said Stewart, a 1984 graduate of University of LaVerne. “I truly believe the timing is right for me and the timing is right for the basketball program.

“We have some talented student-athletes in the program and I am enthusiastically looking forward to watching their continued growth and development.”

The Aggies return nine players next season after plodding through this season with a 10-20 mark. To those players, however, Stewart’s influence was more than just about basketball.

“Coach Stewart really cared about each of the players as individuals. He didn’t just care what you could do for him on the court, he was always there for you to talk to about anything,” said junior Eddie Miller. He and Ryan Silva will be the team’s only seniors next season.

Warzecka said the position will be posted today and a nationwide search for Stewart’s replacement will be under way.

“I’ve been through a situation like this before,” said Miller, who was at Cal for two years before transferring to UCD. “It’s tough, and I know some of the younger guys are feeling a little uneasy right now. But you just have to focus and keep pushing hard.”

Stewart’s staff remains intact, but depending upon who the next coach is, that could change. Warzecka said candidates could emerge from within those ranks, but he expects great interest from around the country.

“We’ll try to be competitive in salary as it relates to the average Big West salary,” Warzecka added, saying with Davis’ nine returning players the Aggies are moving forward in the conference.

Stewart assisted former UCLA coach Steve Lavin as director of basketball services during the 2002-03 season. At Westwood, his duties included recruiting, promotions, compliance and community relations.

Stewart was an assistant coach at Washington State for three seasons, briefly an assistant at UC Santa Barbara (1997-98) and was head coach at his alma mater, La Verne.

Under Stewart, the Aggies went 88-148 and were 21-43 in four Big West seasons.

Wayne Schrader — who, with his wife Judy, has had Aggie season tickets since such packages were first issued almost three decades ago — said Wednesday he feels bad about the coaching change, but he understands how tough the demands can be.

“My first thought is that anytime someone (leaves), I feel bad,” said Schrader, a local optometrist, while wishing Stewart well.

Schrader said he hopes the Aggies can find a way to return to winning ways and “put butts in the seats.”

UCD averaged a hiccup over 2,000 fans for Big West contests in 2010-11 at The Pavilion. Of eight nonleague home games, only three drew more than 831 people.

“When you have 1,200 in The Pavilion, with all the empty seats it can look like 200 people are there,” Schrader said.

“I don’t see how you can find a high-profile coach. They don’t pay enough,” he continued. “We have to find a good, young coach that wants to make his name.

“Like when somebody got lucky in 1971 and we hired Jim Sochor.”

Notes: In 2009, Stewart was a charter appointment to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Ethics Coalition, an group responsible for identifying key rules and issues that challenge the coaching community in making ethical decisions. …Warzecka said he and Stewart will explore additional/potential projects on which the veteran coach can use his expertise until June 30. …Stewart is director of Friday’s NABC collegiate all-star game, a game featuring the best players not participating in the Final Four. …Stewart was the 22nd coach in UCD men’s basketball history. … In 2008 and 2009, Stewart went overseas to visit troops with the United Service Organization. In 2009, he spent eight days in Afghanistan as part of the USO’s “Operation Hoop Talk: Talking With The Troops.” In 2008, Stewart took part in the same operation in Iraq. He is one of only a handful of current collegiate coaches to have visited both Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the USO tours.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047.

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UCD men’s basketball coach Gary Stewart, right, talks strategy with point guard Mark Payne at a break in the action during a game in the 2009-2010 season. On Wednesday, the school announced that Stewart would step down after eight years as the Aggies’ head coach and pursue other administrative duties in the athletic department. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise file photo

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