The Reed High baseball program will have a new leader when the team returns to the diamond next spring. After just two years on the job, Nick Royle was fired last week by the Reed administration.

RHS athletic administrator Al Babb confirmed that fact Monday morning.

"He did not resign and he's not coming back," Babb said in an interview at the east Sparks school. "I'm just disappointed. I thought we had a good coach."

Babb did not cite the reasons for letting Royle go. However, that's not a surprise since it would violate school district policy to discuss hiring and firing personnel issues.

"From my understanding, there were just some issues," Royle said in a phone interview Monday. "They were issues that occurred off the field, nothing about baseball and nothing I had control over. It was their opinion those issues were not taken care of properly."

Royle, took over the Reed program following the 2008 season. The Raiders were 12-17 in 2009 and 10-18 in the recently concluded 2010 season. Additionally, the local club was just 7-11 and 6-12 respectively the past two years in High Desert League play. Reed missed the Northern 4A playoffs both seasons.

Prior to the two-year drought, Reed had not missed the regional playoffs since the 1970s. Still, Royle's termination was not believed to be based on his team's performance. Reed was in the playoff hunt until the final two league series each of the last two years.

"I didn't get into it with them," Royle said. "I guess there could've been issues on the field they were not happy with too. I'm not going to say anything bad about Reed. That's what they decided and that's what I have to live with, and so do they."

The Raiders fielded a young roster this past season and some local coaches believe the program has a bright future.

"I think we had seven sophomores on the (varsity) team," Babb said. "Which is a concern. I wonder where all the juniors and seniors are. But then again, those sophomores will be juniors next year.

"I think we'd prefer to hire someone on staff ... I think that helps someone take ownership of the kids outside the lines."

A vast majority of high school administrators prefer to have coaches who also work at the school, but many also admit it's getting harder and harder to find quality candidates to coach prep athletics whether they are educators or not.

Washoe County School District policy calls for newly vacated coaching positions to be open within the school for five days. After that initial in-house period, Reed officials can open the position district wide and to outsiders.

While Babb said he'd like to get a coach that sits on the Reed staff, that won't be easy. A candidate is not likely to emerge during the five-day exclusive "in-house" period and with budget cuts expected district wide, Reed is more likely to lose positions than to gain them, leaving little flexibility to hire a new coach with a teaching position.

"I think anytime you can have an on-campus coach, that's to your advantage. It sure is easier to get a hold of people," Babb said. "I'd be hoping for at least an educator, possibly someone from another school. I think our staff at Reed is pretty well set for the next school year."

Competitive summer camps, leagues and practices have become commonplace on the high school sports landscape and most coaches believe critical to their success in building a quality program. With Royle's tenure over at Reed, the Raiders likely won't have much if any summer baseball program for the second time in three years."

Babb did not set a definitive timeline for hiring a new coach, but said he'd like to get the process finished soon.

"We'd like to get it done before school's out, but that would probably be overstepping our optimism," he said.