The last time Norman High School played a football game without Butch Peters on the sideline was in 1972. When the Tigers take the field for the first time in 2008, they will be without Peters.
After 12 seasons as head coach and 35 seasons on the Norman staff, Peters resigned Thursday.
“I just felt like it was time,” Peters said. “Thirty-five years, that’s a long time to do what I do.”
Peters’ teams compiled 75-54 record in his 12 years as head coach. In his 23 years as an assistant under three different head coaches, Peters coached 13 All-State linemen and was assistant head coach on the last Norman team to win a state championship (1992).
Peters said he and wife, Sue, discussed the resignation “quite a bit” and came to a decision over spring break.
“It’s probably the hardest one I’ve ever had to make,” said Peters, whose 2007 squad was 3-7.
The 60-year-old also resigned his teaching job, effective at the end of the current semester. In his time at Norman, Peters also served as the volleyball coach from 1977-1990, winning four state championships. The Tigers were 50-0 in 1990.
No immediate successor has been named. Norman Public Schools athletic director Frank Thompson said that he was away from his office on Thursday and will begin to evaluate the situation today.
As for Peters, who has owned Sooner Trophies and Awards since 1984, his immediate future is still being thought through.
“The plan right now is to go down and work at the store and do that for a while,” he said. “We’ll see from there.”
Peters, a Crooked Oak High School graduate, was an all-conference offensive lineman at Southwestern Oklahoma State from 1969-1972.
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