Clark decided to go after his side was relegated to Division B in January

Mark Clark has resigned as the head coach of the Great Britain women's basketball team.

Clark had been in charge for three seasons and led the side to promotion to EuroBasket Division A in 2007.

But Britain were relegated in January, leaving their participation in the 2012 Olympics in doubt. Clark resigned after a meeting of officials last weekend.

"I want to give the programme as much time as possible to establish the new direction it seeks," Clark said.

The International Basketball Federation (Fiba) has insisted the GB team must be "competitive" in order to play in the Olympics in 2012.

But GB's defeat against Romania in January saw them relegated back to European Division B where they will stay at least until 2011.

We would like to thank Mark for his tireless efforts with the British Basketball women's high performance programme Chris Spice GB Basketball performance director

Clark admitted failure to stay in the top flight had put pressure on him.

"I'm not naive enough to think that questions would not be asked of the head coach's position," he said.

"But I can't be critical of the way the players performed in January."

Clark added that he thinks women's basketball has made good strides in the time he has been in charge.

"I feel extremely privileged to have head-coached the GB team and proud of the progress the team has made over the three seasons.

"The highs are not just about promotion to Division A - the real high is bringing new players into the programme and seeing them represent Great Britain.

606: DEBATE Discuss GB basketball

"The low - for me personally - is now because I won't be be working with those players again - they are a special group of people."

Chris Spice, performance director of GB Basketball, said: "We would like to thank Mark for his tireless efforts with the British Basketball women's high performance programme over the past three seasons.

"We wish him well in his future coaching endeavours."

There is no EuroBasket campaign this summer but British Basketball will look for a new head coach for the women's training camp which will take place in June 2009.

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