Suspended Lakewood Coach Sweeney Resigns : Prep basketball: He steps down a day after Moore League’s action on recruiting charge.

Tim Sweeney, boys’ basketball coach at Lakewood High, resigned Tuesday, the day after he was suspended for most of next season for recruiting.

Sweeney, 49, was suspended for sending a handwritten note last April to an eighth-grade prospect, Ortege Jenkins, who lives in the bordering Long Beach Jordan High district. The action violated the CIF Southern Section’s undue-influence rule.

“After discussing the matter with my family, I made the best decision for all concerned at this time,” said Sweeney, who has won three Moore League titles and one Southern Section championship in 13 seasons at the school. “I did not agree with the punishment. It was more than I could live with.”

Sweeney said the note to Jenkins was not intended as a recruiting vehicle, but instead to congratulate the youngster on helping lead Hoover Middle School to the Long Beach All-City championship.

Jordan Coach Ron Massey obtained a copy of the note and turned it over to the Southern Section office. He said he wants to put a stop to illegal recruiting that has gone on in his district for years.

“I wanted this issue to be brought out in public because it’s been happening a lot and I think people need to know about it,” said Massey, 43, in his 13th year at Jordan.

The six-team Moore League is considered one of the best basketball conferences in the Southland.

The Southern Section Executive Committee scheduled a hearing on the matter for Tuesday, but the league principals met Monday and decided to handle the issue themselves. They unanimously agreed to suspend Sweeney for all of the nonleague season and the first round of league play in 1992-93.

Sweeney said missing that much of the season would be unfair to his team and his assistant coach, Michael Jackson. Sweeney said he will recommend that Jackson take over the team.