Cady Leaves Notre Dame a Champion : High school basketball: After leading Knights to first Southern Section title, coach resigns to pursue master’s degree.

Mick Cady, who this season led Notre Dame High to its first Southern Section championship in boys’ basketball, resigned as coach Wednesday to concentrate on earning a master’s degree.

Pete Cassidy, a former coach at St. Genevieve and an English teacher at Notre Dame, will replace Cady. Cassidy is not related to the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball coach of the same name.

The move was a surprise to many, but Cady said he decided last fall that 1992-93 would be his last as coach. He will remain at the school as a social sciences teacher while pursuing a master’s degree in psychology.

“I wanted to go quietly,” Cady said. “I didn’t want it to be a distraction for anybody.”

Notre Dame, which opened in 1948, won its first basketball title earlier this month with a 61-54 victory over San Dimas in the Division III-A final. Notre Dame finished 25-6 and advanced to the regional semifinals of the state playoffs.

Though the team was laden with key seniors, several players will return, including freshman standout Eddie Miller.

“As a player and a person, I was looking forward to playing for him next year,” Miller said. “He really pushed us to work harder in practice and was a good coach.”

Cady, 33, said he would consider a return to coaching if the right opportunity presented itself, but said he won’t pursue another position. He added that going out on top is a pleasant feeling.

“I had no idea we’d go this far,” said Cady, who started at Notre Dame in 1984 as the freshman coach and took over the varsity in 1986. “I did my time.”

Cassidy, 48, coached the St. Genevieve varsity in 1986-87, then moved to Notre Dame, where he coached either the freshman or sophomore teams for the next five years. Cassidy took a year off from coaching last year to work on his master’s degree.

Cassidy, whose team at St. Genevieve posted a record of 10-11, said he will attempt to keep the program at its current high-water mark, but joked when asked about the pressure to win more section titles.

“I guess I have 46 more years to duplicate the feat,” he said. “I will try to keep the program heading in the same direction.”