The passion for coaching remains.

But balancing family, work and coaching proved too much for Kentlake’s Pete Reardon.

Reardon, Kentlake’s wrestling coach, recently stepped down from their respective posts.

“It is really tough. One of the hardest things I have ever had to do,” said Reardon, who finished up his fifth season at the helm of the Falcons this past winter. “I’ve never had to resign. It was not an easy decision. But it was the right move for my family.”

Reardon, a social studies teacher at Kentlake who also has three young children, will be moving this summer to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where his wife recently accepted a job.

In five years with the Falcons, Reardon guided the team to a 23-16 South Puget Sound League North Division record. Before Reardon took over, the Falcons had posted a 7-17 mark in the previous three years combined. The high point came in 2007, when Kentlake finished ninth at the state tournament. It’s the only time since the school opened that the Falcons finished among the top 10 in the team standings.

This past winter, Kentlake took fourth in the SPSL North, posting a 5-3 record, and advanced two wrestlers to the state tournament. Talent to succeed next year is in abundance, Reardon noted. Among others, Kentlake will return standouts Jeff Hargejausen, Ben Richie and Colton Marlowe next winter.

“They have a good young group, a great freshmen and sophomore class,” Reardon said. “They have a little ways to do before they’re real tough.”