The Greenwood boys’ basketball team is in search of a new head coach after Bob Pels stepped down last week.

Greenwood athletics director Nick Lowe confirmed to the Daily News that Pels stepped down for family reasons after three season. Pels did not return calls from the Daily News.

“He came in at kind of a tough time for us,” Lowe said. “We had some transition over the past and he had us competitive. In our district, it is a battle to get through the district, much less to the region, but we’ve had some good players and he was able to develop those guys and get them playing at the right time for that best competition.

“We are very thankful for what he did for our program.”

Pels helped revive a program that struggled prior to his head coaching tenure. The Gators won 21 games in the two seasons before Pels was named head coach, but Greenwood went 51-41 in his three seasons with a winning record in all three seasons.

Greenwood advanced to the Region 4 Tournament in his first season in 2016-17 and finished 16-12 this season, losing to eventual Region 4 champions and state semifinalist Warren Central in the District 14 Tournament.

Lowe said Pels has the program heading in the right direction and they expect plenty of interest in the open position.

“We are kind of excited about it a little bit,” Lowe said. “It’s a good point with how we have been the past couple of years from a competitive nature. We were right there on the cusp last year of maybe beating Warren Central and going to the region.

“A lot of those guys are coming back so we are looking forward to see what the turnout is on our applicant pool and see if we can get somebody in there that can do a lot for our program and maybe take it to the next level.”