Medway Park Crusaders have begun the process of hiring a new coach for its VCARS.co.uk Division 1 team following the departure of Craig Nicol.

Nicol’s contract was due to expire this summer and the club decided he would not be offered a new one for the 2013/14 season. He has left the club with immediate effect.

Club chairman Jesse Sazant says it wasn’t an easy decision for the club, but one that needed to be made.

“This isn’t a decision we have taken lightly and had nothing to do with wins and losses.  Our driving principle is and always will be focused on developing elite level players and coaches.  It is something we take huge pride in.  We felt that this was a decision we had to make to give our young players the best opportunity to develop under a coach who is dedicated to their development as a coach,” says Sazant.

The team finished ninth this season with a record of 9-11 and only missed out on the playoffs by a single point in the aggregate head-to-head eighth-place tie-breaker with Leicester Warriors.

Crusaders have already had discussions with a number of coaches in Britain and abroad and hope to have a new one in place by mid-May. Along with leading the Division 1 team, the job will also include working at the Canterbury High School Elite Basketball Academy. The club will begin advertising for candidates this week.

“While it has been a difficult few days we are extremely excited moving forward about the opportunity to bring in another high quality coach to the club.  The conversations we have already had are very encouraging. We are confident the combination of the academy job and the opportunity to coach our men will attract a high level suitable coach,” says the chairman.

Crusaders have a good record of previous Division 1 coaches moving into professional coaching jobs. The most recent example is James Vear, who took over as head coach during the 2009/10 season and led the team to promotion from Division 2 and coached the 2011/12 season. He then moved to become an assistant coach at Dalhousie University in Canada this year and was recently named as an assistant to the GB U20 mens team.

“James Vear is a great example of someone who came in and took ownership of his development and really pushed himself to get better as a coach.  After a successful year in Canada, arranged through his work with Crusaders, he has just been appointed as GB U20 lead assistant and has a number of interviews lined up in Europe,” says Sazant.