Two years after Beaver Dam was a shot away from reaching the state tournament, Dean Bellanti is out as the Golden Beavers' varsity boys basketball coach.

"I was asked to resign and that's not what I wanted to do," Bellanti said. "I don't know what the next step is in that process."

Beaver Dam superintendent Don Childs informed Bellanti that his coaching contract would not be renewed on April 16. When Bellanti refused to resign by Friday on a second deadline set by Childs, the boys varsity basketball head coaching job was posted on the school district web site.

"As far as I'm concerned, the chapter's closed," Childs said. "Do I anticipate reopening the decision? At this point, no."

Bellanti had a career record of 47-125 in his eight seasons as head coach. BD lost a 42-38 thriller to powerhouse Madison Memorial in the 2005-06 sectional final, the closest the Beavers have come to the state tournament in 60 years.

Since then, BD has slumped to a 2-40 mark, including an 0-21 record last season. Five players quit the team in that span.

"There were issues that pre-dated this season," Childs said. "Wins and losses are not the things on which I judge success."

Bellanti's job performance was first brought into question near the end of the 2004-05 season by former athletic director Todd Sobrilsky. After the following season and the run to the sectional final, Sobrilsky changes his opinion and told Bellanti that winning aside, he had a strong professional season.

Sobrilsky even said the parent-coach-athlete alliance that Bellanti formed to address issues of conflict should be presented to other coaches in the school. But Sobrilsky left to become the athletic director at Green Bay West and did not complete an evaluation of Bellanti's performance that season before departing.

Bellanti was told after this season he'd be coaching for another season but the school district changed its opinion after a closed session meeting. He was then told his prospects for retaining his coaching position didn't look good and associate principal-athletics Bill Loss told him in a meeting it was not a matter of if, but when in regards to Bellanti being replaced.

Childs admitted the decision was ultimately his regarding Bellanti.

"The process took several months and we concluded the process," Childs said. "The status is, we're looking for a head coach."

Childs did receive several compliments and was pleased with Bellanti's involvement with Positively Hoops, a program designed to help BD's program improve at the youth levels. Bellanti felt BD was on the verge of reaping the benefits of that program.

"I committed myself to do whatever I could for Beaver Dam basketball," Bellanti said. "With the youth program, you could see it coming to fruition.

"There's hills and valleys but our goal was to get to a consistent level. That only happens when you have kids dedicated to basketball. Our kids in '05-06 invested a lot of time in the game."

Bellanti teaches social studies at BDHS.