Houle has won 11 girls state basketball titles at Mountain View. He was inducted into the National Federation Coaches Hall of Fame. He has won seven national championships and has won a national-record 68 state titles in basketball, track and cross country. But on Wednesday, the man regarded as the most successful high school coach in the country resigned under pressure.

Houle reconsidered his resignation on Thursday, but it appears to be too late to get his job back.

“We’ve moved forward. We don’t believe it would be in the best interest of the team to be switching back and forth between coaches in the middle of the season,” said Jerrilyn Mortensen, Public Information Officer for Alpine School District. “He also hasn’t expressed any interest in returning to us personally.”

The incident that led to Houle’s resignation began when the team traveled to Arizona to play in the Nike Tournament of Champions in December.

According to Houle, two members of the team came to him late one night and refused to stay in the room they were assigned. One of the girls was in a room with sick players and the other wasn’t getting along with her roommates. Houle said the hotel was sold out and it was late (midnight) so he allowed the two girls to sleep in his room, which had a door to the bedroom and a couch in the front room.

Houle said the girls stayed in the bedroom (for about four hours) with the door closed and locked while he watched TV on the couch and spent much of the night walking around and reading in the hotel lobby.

“I opened the curtains to the room and even propped the door open with a chair,” Houle said. “I am innocent. I’ve done nothing wrong. I was acting on behalf of the girls. Their parents gave me their permission. The district even said I didn’t break any rules.”

After the team returned home, the school district received a phone call concerning the incident and began to investigate. Houle said the district told him he would have to resign or “they would do something else.”

When asked if Houle was brought in to resign or be fired, Mortensen said, “There were discussions, but I wouldn’t say that he was ‘brought in’ before the district. To discuss what was said in those discussions would violate employer/employee confidentiality.”

After Houle resigned on Wednesday, he returned home and was greeted by a group of parents who begged him to rescind his resignation and fight for his job.

“When I came home I had parents (including the parents of the girls involved) waiting for me and the next day the team came over and asked me not to resign,” Houle added. “Some of the girls said they would turn in their uniforms and the (assistant) coaches said they wouldn’t coach, but I told them I wanted them to play and to go to practice.”

According to Houle, both of the parents of the girls involved talked to District Superintendent Vern Henshaw and told him they supported Houle and that they gave permission for their daughters to stay in his room.

“He (Henshaw) told them that I used poor judgment and he had already made the decision to release me,” Houle explained. “I forfeited my room and stayed up all night so they could have somewhere to stay. Do I deserve to be fired for thatfi”

Henshaw was not taking phone calls on Friday and referred questions about the case to Mortensen.

Several of the players, including Mountain View’s leading scorer Michelle Harrison, were ready to stage a boycott in support of Houle but after a team meeting on Friday morning, they decided to play.

Mountain View assistant coach Laura Romo was named the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. She has been Houle’s assistant coach since 1989.

Mountain View administration did not want Romo to comment on the situation, but assistant principal Jeanie Wilson, who presides over athletics, confirmed the team had a meeting on Friday morning and opted to play the remainder of the season.

Wilson also said Houle’s resignation also includes his head coaching positions for track and cross country. Houle has been the track and cross country coach since the school opened in 1980. She said the team has not yet named an interim track coach.

Houle said he has received hundreds of phone calls of support from former players and parents, along with some people offering legal advice. He’s considering fighting for his job in court, but hasn’t made a decision yet.

Meanwhile, assistant coach Randy Rehrer said, “We told Dave we would support whatever he wanted us to do and he wanted us to play. They (the girls) decided to dedicate the rest of the season to him.”

It had already been a difficult season for Houle. He was suspended for five games and put on probation for a year and Mountain View was fined $1,000 for comments he made in a voice message left on Utah High School Activities Association executive director Evan Excell’s phone in February. The UHSAA said Houle had violated its sportsmanship policy by threatening legal action if his concerns about bias against him and his teams weren’t heard.

Mountain View is 2-0 in region play and 8-4 overall. The Bruins are the Daily Herald’s top-ranked girls team.

Daily Herald prep sports editor Neil Warner can be reached at nwarner@heraldextra.com

This story appeared in North County on page A6.