BETHALTO – The Civic Memorial girls basketball program announced that its head coach Mike Arbuthnot will not be returning.
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The news broke Wednesday afternoon that he will be leaving after four seasons at the helm with the Eagles.
Taking the job in 2020-21 after a 14-year stint from Jonathan Denney and a brief stand-in from Jeff Ochs, Arbuthnot quickly saw success.
His team went 17-1 in his first season as head coach and the following year went 32-6, finishing fourth at the IHSA Class 3A state tournament.
Over fourseasons, he’s racked up a record of 84-36 at CM.
The year after the state tournament proved to be a down year where the team went 13-19, but the Eagles posted a comeback 22-10 season, not finding much success in the postseason.
The school has officially posted the job and is currently looking for candidates.
Arbuthnot already has a good idea.
“I have an assistant Jeff Durbin who is very knowledgeable and ready to take over. I wanted to make sure he had that opportunity, so I decided it was time to step back,” Arb said.
Before coming to CM, Arbuthnot had a lengthy stay as the head coach at Highland. While there he coached the Bulldogs to a third-place finish at state. Over the course of six years, he had a 144-47 record.
Before Highland, he coached and taught at Roxana for 16 years.
If this is his retirement, Arbuthnot will finish with a career record of 438-293.
At this point, Arbuthnot hasn’t officially closed the book on his coaching career.
“As of right now, I have no plans to coach anywhere else, but I will never say never at this point. I have enjoyed this - being around the players and coaches and parents.”
For now, Arb cherishes his time leading the Eagles.
“My last four years at Civic Memorial were everything I thought they would be going in. I have enjoyed it immensely.”
