Mercer Island High School baseball coach Brian Potoshnik resigned from his head coaching position last Thursday after acknowledging a Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) rules violation.

According to Craig Olson, MIHS athletic director, Potoshnik turned in a letter of resignation on Thursday because of an out-of-season rules violation.

The WIAA prohibits coaches from coaching during times of the offseason, specifically in the month leading up to the regular season, which for spring sports starts on March 1.

According to the WIAA handbook, the high school offseason is defined as: “out-of-season for all high school sports shall be from Aug. 1 until the first day of the specific sport turnouts and from the final day of the state tournament in that classification for that sport until the conclusion of the final spring sport state tournament.”

Potoshnik was head coach for three seasons with the Islanders.

Olson said because there is not enough time between now and the beginning of the season to do a coach search, the baseball team will have an interim coach for the spring 2010 season and the district will look for and hire a new coach in the fall.

Cory Smith, a former assistant coach under Potoshnik, will serve as the interim coach this season.

“I lobbied for him,” said Potoshnik of Smith. “He deserves a shot. He understands what we were trying to build.”