Alvirne High's 34-0 loss to Portsmouth on Friday night turned out to be Bob Nimblett's final game on the Alvirne sideline.

Nimblett announced his resignation to his team at a breakfast Sunday morning. He spent nine years as the program's head coach.

Nimblett, who lives in Winthrop, Mass., said missing time with his family was the main reason for his decision.

"I have a 3-year-old daughter and I was going days without seeing her," Nimblett said. "That's not something I wanted to continue to do at this point."

Nimblett, 39, spent three years as an assistant under Mike DeFelice at Alvirne before he was promoted to head coach in 2004. Alvirne qualified for the playoffs once during those nine years (2009). The Broncos also missed qualifying for the playoffs by a game in 2008.

Nimblett said all of his assistant coaches decided to step down as well.

"We just needed to get some momentum going from season to season," Nimblett said. "We just didn't have the talent to compete with teams like Dover, Bishop Guertin and Winnacunnet.

"I don't know if the commitment from the players is there right now. The last couple years the weight room participation hasn't been real good. The kids haven't been putting the time in to be a real competitive varsity program.

"We want kids to play other sports, but in many cases kids weren't playing other sports."

Alvirne dropped from Division II to Division III this season, and finished 3-7 overall and 3-5 in the division. The Broncos will move to Division I next year, when they will compete in a conference that includes Nashua North, Nashua South, BG and Keene.

Nimblett, who works as a teacher in Chelmsford, Mass., said he may get back into coaching in the future.

"I'll look to see what opportunities are out there, but I'd have to look for something closer to home."

rbrown@unionleader.com