The clock was the final straw.

That was the thing that made Bernie Hamrick quit as Miramar High School basketball coach in 1984. The more Hamrick looked at the clock, the more he realized coaching was more in his past than his future.

The clock Hamrick had his eyes glued to wasn’t the timer used in basketball games. It was an ordinary, everyday clock that hung on one side of the Miramar gym.

“I’d go to practice and look over at the clock to see how much longer I had to go before going home,” Hamrick said. “I was burned out on coaching. That’s when I figured it was time to go.”

After 14 years and a couple of district championships, Hamrick retired his clipboard and whistle for good. Or so he thought.

As six years passed, the basketball bug bit Hamrick again.

The thought of returning to coaching had a slight appeal to Hamrick, who remained a teacher and golf coach at Miramar during his hiatus from the court.

“But I wasn’t crazy about going somewhere else looking for a job,” Hamrick said.

When Patriot hoop coach Willie Jones left the school to become an assistant principal at Cooper City before the current school year, the door was opened for Hamrick to return.

Miramar athletic director Bruce Weimer offered the job to Hamrick. But Hamrick didn’t accept immediately. At 52, Hamrick didn’t know if he really wanted the headaches that come with being a high school basketball coach. He was plenty happy as a teacher, husband, grandfather and golf coach.

“The kids started coming up to me and bugging me about returning,” Hamrick said. “I kept putting them off.”

That didn’t bother those coaxing Hamrick. Since Hamrick had left his coaching position, Miramar had failed to post a winning record. Last year, the team struggled to a 5-19 mark. In the past four seasons, the Patriots went through three coaches. The players were starved for continuity and wins.

“When I was in junior high I used to see his teams play here,” said Chuck Maupin, who scored 11 points per game last season for Miramar. “They were good. I wanted him to come back. I asked him to take it under consideration.”

In late September, Hamrick accepted the job offer.

“It was the kids that got him back,” said Weimer, who added that Hamrick was his only choice to coach the Patriots. “They knew his reputation.”

Hamrick realizes accepting the job was the easy part. Turning around Miramar’s fortunes on the court will be difficult.

“I really don’t know what’s happened here since I left,” Hamrick said. “The pendulum swings back and forth. Hopefully, it will swing in our direction again.”

Hamrick will employ his signature up-tempo, high-octane style of play that he used while winning 197 games for Miramar during his 14 years of coaching.

Miramar and Hamrick will be handicapped this year by a lack of height. The tallest Patriot player is 6 feet 1.

George Swanke, assisting Hamrick this year on the bench, thinks any deficiencies will be made up by Hamrick’s ability to motivate players.

“He’s the kind of coach that will get the very most out of a player,” said Swanke whose son, Steve, led Broward County in scoring while playing for Miramar in the mid-70s. “He can really get through to the boys. He’s a heck of a coach.”

Ten practices into the season, Hamrick is looking at the clock once again. But this time he’s counting the minutes before practice begins.

“I feel refueled and fired up,” Hamrick said. “I missed it the last two or three years. I was ready to do it again.”