By George Pohly, Macomb Daily Sports Editor

Perhaps no speech to his team, even one following a heartbreaking loss, was more challenging than the one Rick Bye delivered Friday.

"It was difficult for me to say the words," Bye said, recalling the moment he told the Titans he is retiring after 35 years as Stevenson's football coach. "It was emotional for me. In my heart, I was having a lot of trouble with it."

Nonetheless, the 62-year-old Bye said, he is confident of the decision to end a career during which his teams had nine undefeated regular seasons and appeared in four state championship games, including the 2009 contest at Ford Field, where the Titans lost to Detroit Catholic Central.

"My gut told me this is what I've got to do," Bye said. "When it's time to get out, you just know it. It seemed like it was time to turn it over to a younger regime here."

Bye, a drafting and physical education teacher at Stevenson since 1973, said he also will retire from teaching at the end of the current school year.

He plans to be part of the Stevenson track coaching staff this spring.

The seven-time Macomb County football Coach of the Year also hopes to be involved in the process of naming his successor and mentoring the new coach.

Otherwise, Bye said, he will devote new-found free time to his wife, Rae, his two children, Michael and Michelle, and two grandchildren.

"You want some quality in your life and in your retirement," Bye said. "My dad died at 49 of a heart attack. That looms over my head. I don't want to say I'm haunted by it, but you just never know what's ahead.

"I don't have any health issues right now. I've tried to stay in halfway decent shape."

Bye, who had a career record of 268-94, gathered the Titans in the Stevenson cafeteria for a team meeting, at which he told the players of his decision to step down from a post he has held since 1975.

"It was pretty emotional for me," Bye said.

There is no doubt that Bye's departure will be emotional for others as the news spreads.

"It's the end of an era," said Joe Emanuele, the Stevenson baseball coach who has been an assistant on Bye's staff for more than 10 years, and who played on Bye's 1984 and 1985 teams.

"I've known for awhile that he was contemplating it, but today the reality hit," Emanuele said. "(Stevenson football) is never going to be the same."

Charlie Walker, a senior linebacker on Bye's 2009 team, who next week will sign a national football letter of intent with Bowling Green, said Bye will be missed.

"Anything I needed, he was there for me," Walker said.

"For starters, every Wednesday we'd weight lift. After we got done, he gave a real good speech. He was the first one to get us hyped for the week.

"He's the type of guy who can laugh with you and joke around with you. At the same time, he'll cuss you out, get in your face, but he does it, number one, to (make) you better and, number two, he does it out of love."

Bye's last team was one of his best as it set a school record for most victories in a season.

The Titans, led by Macomb County Player of the Year Jason Fracassa at quarterback, went 13-1 and won the championship of the Macomb Area Conference Red Division, Bye's 16th league title.

"He's accomplished so much during his coaching career that others could only imagine doing," said Chris Smith, the defensive coordinator at Eisenhower, Stevenson's arch rival.

"They're definitely losing the leader over that great program. He's won so many big games."

Bye started his teaching career in Detroit and then moved in 1970 to Davis Jr. High, which like Stevenson is part of Utica Community Schools, before arriving at SHS in 1973.

After his first Stevenson team went 2-7 overall and 1-6 in the Eastern Michigan League, Bye asked other EML coaches for advice.

"It was simple," Bye remembered. "They said, 'Get better, or get out.' "

The Titans got better.

After Bye and his assistants, including Ken Fiott, Jerry Lajeunesse, Ron Kerr and Tom Propst, implemented a weight-training program and immersed themselves in clinics and other means of preparation, the Titans in 1979 went 7-2, including a 7-0 mark in the EML.

The following season brought Bye's first 9-0 regular-season record and the first of his 18 trips to the state playoffs.

"At that point," he said, "we thought, 'OK, we might be here for awhile. We can make it go.'

"The five of us worked it and worked it to make it better."

Stevenson won five league championships in the 1980s and posted back-to-back undefeated regular seasons in 1985 and 1986.

The Titans closed the 1990s with five consecutive league titles. From 1995-1998, the Titans amassed a cumulative record of 45-4, appearing in four state semifinal games and one state final along the way.

In the 1980s and 1990s combined, Stevenson had a record of 175-34 and played in state finals in 1986 and 1996.

Stevenson also appeared in a 2004 state championship game.

The Titans were named the Macomb County Team of the Year for 2009, the 14th time since 1980 they received the honor presented by The Macomb Daily.