Butch Arthers will finally have a little more free time if the Belfast school board approves a budget proposal to split two of the three positions he holds at the school.

If the plan passes, Arthers, the assistant principal/athletic director/varsity football coach, will give up the A.D. end of his job to focus on his duties as assistant principal and coach. The move has to be approved by the school board because a new position would be created.

Arthers, who has been Belfast’s athletic director since 1990, said the school wants to find someone to teach part-time and handle athletic duties the rest of the day.

Belfast has advertised the job as an “anticipated position” and Arthers said the school has some in-house candidates.

The idea of making the A.D. job separate has been an issue for several years, Arthers said, and was brought up again last year when the school went through the accreditation process.

Shedding the position will allow Arthers to spend more time on football in the fall. Arthers also said he feels that holding two different athletic positions at the same time means he has to compromise other sports.

But the main reason to give up the athletic director post, he said, is to free up time to spend with his family.

“It’s a burnout situation,” he said. “You’re at the school all day, dealing with young people and school issues and then at night you have to deal with the athletics.”

“It’s difficult to maintain a family thing,” Arthers added. “I’m lucky because my family is very athletics-oriented and they like to go to the events. But that’s not the kind of quality time that I would like. I feel like I’m missing out.”

Arthers wants the new athletic director in place by mid-May so the school can have the transition finalized by the start of the 1998-99 school year.

Effective next year, high school basketball head coaches can now call timeouts durings games for the first time, according to rules changes by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

The NFHS adopted the change in Rule 5-8-3, along with five other rules changes, during its April 5-6 meeting in Kansas City, Mo.

In another major change, no substitutions will be allowed on the first attempt of a multiple free-throw situation. Subs will only be allowed to enter the game only before the second of a two-shot free-throw attempt or before the third of a three-shot attempt.