Phil Rosemurgy, who stepped into the big shoes of Tom Bonfigli as Justin-Siena varsity boys basketball coach before the 2007-08 season but struggled to produce wins, relinquished the position to assistant coach John Sevenau after Thursday night’s practice.

Brother Robert Wickman, the school’s president and CEO, said Rosemurgy stepped down.

“He met with a couple of the administrators responsible for that area of school life and he resigned the position,” Brother Robert said Friday. “John Sevenau will be taking over the program for the balance of the season.”

But Rosemurgy said Friday that he was fired.

“I didn’t resign. I was let go,” he said. “We had a meeting (Thursday) at about 10 o’clock and the only thing that was on the table was they didn’t like the direction the program was going. I told them I wanted to finish out the season, and they said ‘No, we’re ending it right now.’ I said ‘OK’ and I left the room. It’s an at-will position, so they can terminate you at any time under any circumstances.”

During Rosemurgy’s 11⁄2 seasons at the helm, the Braves posted a 14-28 record overall and a 2-18 mark in Marin County Athletic League play.

Bonfigli resigned from the position in March 2007 to take over the helm at Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa.

He had compiled a 225-121 record in 12 seasons as the Braves’ head coach, winning his 500th career game that January.

Rosemurgy had come to Justin-Siena with a 243-122 record in 15 high school boys basketball seasons between Sonoma Valley and Marin Academy-San Rafael.

“Phil comes in with a long and extensive track record,” Brother Robert said in 2007 while announcing that Rosemurgy would take over the varsity boys after assisting varsity girls coach Mike Boles the previous four seasons.

But Rosemurgy said he needed more time to complete the coaching transition.

“When I took the job, I told (Justin-Siena) it was going to take about three to five years to build things, to change philosophies and adapt to them,” Rosemurgy said. “It takes a freshman class until it’s a senior class to understand what a program is about. We weren’t given that much time.”

He said he told the team Thursday night after helping them prepare for Friday night’s MCAL road game against San Marin in Novato.

“We had a great practice and a great film session. They’re great, great kids and I miss them already,” he said. “Basketball teaches phenomenal lessons, and one of the lessons we were learning this year was how to deal with failure. They have to learn that in order to become successful in whatever endeavor they choose.

“The kids aren’t failures, by absolutely any means.

“They are very, very positive and work extremely hard. We just came up short in some games. I’m just sorry that I’m not able to finish out the season, but it’s the school’s choice and I have to go along with it.”

He had also been a NCAA Division I assistant for 14 years at Washington, Montana, Iowa State and San Jose State, including teams that reached the NCAA Tournament in 1976, 1978 and 1980 and the NIT in 1981 and 1982.

Rosemurgy didn’t seem fazed by his departure, saying he said he would accept another coaching position “in a New York second.”