Avon Lake native Dick Deasy, who is the head coach of the women at Notre Dame College of Ohio, has announced his retirement after the season.

Deasy, who has been the head coach since 2001, is the program’s longest tenured coach and its winningest. Deasy has been a coach, teacher and administrator at both the collegiate and high-school levels for 50 years. At Notre Dame, he has guided the Falcons to a 182-119 mark and five 20-win seasons, including the current campaign (22-8) which has earned the team a postseason berth for a seventh time in the last eight years.

"I have enjoyed my time at Notre Dame immensely," Deasy said. "It’s a wonderful institution, and I’m so proud of all the young women who worked so hard to build up and maintain our women’s basketball program.

"It’s the right time for me to retire, so I wanted to tell them first. But that being said, what the team doesn’t know is what I get out of coaching them — I learn from them, and the day-to-day interactions with the team keep me young."

Deasy is also the winningest coach in the history of Avon Lake boys’ basketball. He has won over 500 games combined at all levels of basketball in his illustrious career. At Notre Dame he coached in his 300th game last week.

Deasy’s Falcons open play in the 2011 AMC Championship Tournament on Tuesday. Notre Dame earned that home-court date with an upset road win over No. 16 Cedarville on Saturday.

swalker@MorningJournal.com