Mark Maholick made a very tough decision last week.

Less than seven days after the Palmerton Area School Board failed to appoint him head boys basketball coach for lack of a majority vote deadlocked at 4-4, he has decided to pull his name from the candidates interviewed for the position."After all that went down at the board meeting two weeks ago, I just felt it was the right thing to do," Maholick said when asked about the decision. "Nobody from the administration came out in support of me. The more I thought about it, I felt this was for the best, since I was questioning myself about doing it from the beginning."Maholick, who was head boys coach at Lehighton for one season, came on board as assistant varsity coach, who also handled the JV's, when Mike Snyder took over the program for the second time, back in 2008. He became interim head coach this past January when Snyder was suspended indefinitely."The hardest part was the relationship I made with the kids since I've coached them and they are such an intelligent group, I hope and know they will benefit with what we did," he added. "They've been playing together so long they'll be ok, as long as someone doesn't come in and try and implement a whole new program."Maholick continued to work with the team after the season ended and has them entered in the Panther Valley Summer League. The Bombers actually play their first game tonight."It's a shame there are still some people out there that only worry about wins and losses and don't realize it's all about coaching young kids not just about the sport, but how to handle some of the situations they may face as they go on in life," Maholick said.Superintendent Carol Boyce confirmed that Maholick has indeed pulled his application and the job opening was posted in the human resources section of the school website (www.palmerton.org) yesterday. Appications will be accepted until June 7.