Lorne Ridenour, 38, has spent most of his adult life as a football coach, so next season will be quite a change.

Ridenour has resigned as Middletown's head coach after three years at the helm, saying he wanted to make a commitment to his family after coaching football for 18 years.

Ridenour was only the second varsity head coach in Middletown football history.  After replacing longtime Knights coach Tim Ambrose, Ridenour compiled a 27-10 record and guided Middletown to playoff appearances during each of his three seasons.

Ridenour's coaching career started long before he took over Middletown's program -- he served 11 years as a Knights assistant and previously coached at Beall and Brunswick .

"I've been coaching my whole adult life, and my children are ages 11 and 9. I felt like I needed to be there for them," Ridenour said.  "I had a hard time balancing my professional life with my personal life."

"I felt like I needed to make a commitment to my family," he said.  "I just don't want to look back five or six years from now and wish I had done something different."

Ridenour informed his players of the decision on Monday. "It's not a snap decision by any means.  I've been thinking about it awhile," Ridenour said.  "It was a good time for me and a good time for another coach (to take the job)."

Ridenour said exciting things are going on right now in Middletown 's program.  Renovations are planned for school's stadium, and the Knights return plenty of key players from a team that went 7-5 and reached the Class 2A West Region championship game.

"It's a good opportunity for a new coach," Ridenour said.  "This is a real young team with experience, we had a real good JV team and the feeder system is outstanding."

Under Ridenour, Middletown remained one of the area's top programs.  His most successful season came last year, when the Knights went 11-2 and reached the state semifinals.

"I have a lot of great memories," Ridenour said.  "It's something I talked to the guys about all the time -- feeling good about your effort.  I'm proud of what we accomplished.  I think the tradition is outstanding."

Ridenour didn't rule out returning to coaching in the future.

"I feel like I have the rest of my life to coach if I want to get back to coaching," he said. "On the other hand, I'm giving up a real good position.  I've had great support.  It was a tough decision, but I felt like it's something I had to do."