DOVER-FOXCROFT – David Carey, who guided the Foxcroft Academy boys basketball team to this year’s Eastern Maine Class B championship game, has resigned from that post after four seasons.

Carey cited personal reasons for the move, in particular the chance to watch his son and daughter pursue their athletic careers.

Son Matt Carey, who was named the 2005 Big East Conference Class B Player of the Year and scored more than 1,000 career points while playing for his father at Foxcroft, is graduating this year and contemplating playing college basketball next winter. Daughter Nycole Carey is a freshman student-athlete at Penquis of Milo.

“It’s something I have to do,” said Carey, “I can always coach, but I can’t always watch my kids grow up. My daughter plays basketball, and I was only able to see her play four times last winter, and Matt could be playing ball at the next level, and if he does I’d like to watch him play, too.”

David Carey inherited an 0-19 team when he took over the Foxcroft boys program in the 2001-2002 season. He went on to guide the Ponies to a 62-19 record, three Big East Conference Class B titles, four tournament berths, three Eastern B semifinal appearances and a spot in the 2005 Eastern Maine final – the Ponies’ first trip to a regional championship game since 1979.

Camden Hills defeated Foxcroft 76-59 in the 2005 EM final and went on to defeat Gorham 66-63 in overtime a week later to win the state championship. Foxcroft also hasn’t lost a home game since the 2001-2002 season, when the Ponies rebounded from their winless campaign of a year earlier to finish with a 9-11 overall record highlighted by a trip to the regional quarterfinals.

“I’m very proud of that team,” Carey said. “That was the team that turned it around and got us going.”

Before taking over the Foxcroft boys team, Carey coached the Foxcroft girls squad for four years. During that tenure he led the Ponies to four straight trips to postseason play, including a berth in the 2001 Eastern Maine final.

Ironically, in six of Foxcroft’s eight boys and girls tournament appearances under Carey’s watch, the Ponies lost to the eventual state champion.

Carey’s resume also includes a stint as boys coach at Penquis, where the Milo native starred during his playing days in the late 1970s.

“I love coaching,” said Carey, who did not rule out a return to the sidelines some day. “I’m going to miss it.”