Arbuthnot Stepping Down As CM Girls Basketball Coach After Four Seasons

BETHALTO – The Civic Memorial girls basketball program announced that its head coach Mike Arbuthnot will not be returning.

The news broke Wednesday afternoon that he will be leaving after four seasons at the helm with the Eagles.

Taking the job in 2020-21 after a 14-year stint from Jonathan Denney and a brief stand-in from Jeff Ochs, Arbuthnot quickly saw success.

His team went 17-1 in his first season as head coach and the following year went 32-6, finishing fourth at the IHSA Class 3A state tournament.

Over fourseasons, he’s racked up a record of 84-36 at CM.

The year after the state tournament proved to be a down year where the team went 13-19, but the Eagles posted a comeback 22-10 season, not finding much success in the postseason.

The school has officially posted the job and is currently looking for candidates.

Arbuthnot already has a good idea.

“I have an assistant Jeff Durbin who is very knowledgeable and ready to take over. I wanted to make sure he had that opportunity, so I decided it was time to step back,” Arb said.

Before coming to CM, Arbuthnot had a lengthy stay as the head coach at Highland. While there he coached the Bulldogs to a third-place finish at state. Over the course of six years, he had a 144-47 record.

Before Highland, he coached and taught at Roxana for 16 years.

If this is his retirement, Arbuthnot will finish with a career record of 438-293.

At this point, Arbuthnot hasn’t officially closed the book on his coaching career.

“As of right now, I have no plans to coach anywhere else, but I will never say never at this point. I have enjoyed this - being around the players and coaches and parents.”

For now, Arb cherishes his time leading the Eagles.

“My last four years at Civic Memorial were everything I thought they would be going in. I have enjoyed it immensely.”

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