Athletic director Jim Livengood announced Monday that Dan Tobias resigned as the Arizona head soccer coach.

With his team touting a Pacific 10 Conference worst 3-9-1 record, Tobias issued a statement after ending his seventh year as head coach:

“”It is with great sadness that for personal reasons I am stepping down from the head coach position,”” Tobias said. “”I would like to thank (UA President) Robert Shelton, Jim Livengood, (senior associate AD) Rocky LaRose and the entire Wildcat family for affording me such a great opportunity at one of the nation’s finest universities and one of the country’s best athletic departments.””

Most recently, starting midfielder Leila Amini decided to leave the team, becoming the ninth player to leave the program over the last year.

“”The soccer environment has been deteriorating for the past few years since I been here,”” Amini told the Daily Wildcat. “”People in the past have brought up issues to try to change the environment for the better, but unfortunately I don’t see any effort toward these changes.””

Assistant coaches John Galas and Lisa Oyen will immediately replace Tobias as co-interim head coaches. Arizona has seven games remaining on its schedule.

“”We’re going to do just like we do everyday, we’ll show up and we’ll roll our sleeves up and go to work,”” Galas said Monday evening.

“”We’re focusing one game at a time, for these girls, for this program (and) for this athletic department,”” he added. “”We’re going to tackle each day as it comes and make sure we’re preparing this group to compete for every Friday and Sunday until the end of the season.””

Galas said he spoke with the team who reacted with “”resounding shock”” to Tobias’ resignation.

“”It was a shock to Lisa and I and the team, but we fully support his decision and we’re here for him making sure that we move forward,”” Galas said.

“”It was tough, it was emotional but (the team) handled it well,”” he added. “”Dan was first class and handled everything professionally, and we owe a lot for what he’s done for this university and this program.””

Tobias found success in his first few seasons with the Wildcats, leading the 2004 squad to a conference championship and garnering a Pac-10 Coach of the Year award.

But after his first two seasons, Tobias posted a 26-43-3 record at Arizona.