PAUL James reckons his decision to end his long reign as Worcester Wolves boss will be good for the club in the “long run”.

The vastly-experienced head coach will step down from his role on Saturday after eight-and-a-half years in charge of the British Basketball League outfit.

James said he would be sad to say goodbye but felt the time was right for him to move on to pastures new and for Wolves to enter the next chapter in their history.

“Sometimes you have got to make a decision whether you want to continue or move on and I thought nine years was long enough,” James said.

“It was time to look for other opportunities, not just for myself but for my family.

“Now is as good a time as any to move on. I am clearly sad to leave.

“I have made some tremendous friends here and worked with fantastic colleagues so it is always tough.

“I feel I have helped to grow the club to where it is now but I have got to look towards longevity.

“We have got a young family and I feel it is time for me to move on.

"Change is as good as a rest and I think it will do myself and the club good in the long run.”

James said he was “very proud” of what he had achieved at Wolves since taking over from Chuck Evans in December 2009.

Under James’ leadership, Worcester won the BBL Trophy and BBL play-offs in 2014, reached the BBL Cup final this year and finished in the top four in five of the past seven seasons.

The 53-year-old also oversaw Wolves’ move to the 2,000-seater University of Worcester Arena from the university’s sports centre on the St John’s campus in 2013.

“As far as I am concerned I have had nine very successful years here,” said James who was also the university’s director of basketball before Dale Ryan’s arrival last year.

“When I first came in they were consistently not making the play-offs or doing anything of note.

“Now we have reached three finals, winning two of those, and put the basketball programme well and truly on the map in this country.

“In the time I have coached the university team we have won the Premiership North championship and have been crowned British champions four times in a row.

“Overall I think I have done a really good job in improving the basketball programme here.”

When asked what his proudest moment was during his time at Wolves, James said: “You have got to look at those finals in the 2013-14 season where we won the BBL Trophy and the BBL play-offs.

“The club had never done that before so that was fantastic. It was tremendous to give something back to the fans after such a long wait.

“But I am also very proud of the record we had as a team overall. Wolves are now a force to be reckoned with.”

However with James moving on there is now uncertainty over the futures of his long-time assistants Alex Radu and Danny Magee.

"Alex is a lecturer at the university so (coaching) wasn’t his full-time job anyway," James said.

"But I don’t know where they both sit in the scheme of things right now."

Asked whether Radu or Magee would receive his backing to replace him in the hot-seat, James added: "That’s not my call. That’s for the management and the board to decide."