Coll. of Charleston's Cremins Takes Medical Leave The College of Charleston announced Friday that coach Bobby Cremins is taking an indefinite leave of absence for a medical condition and will not be back this season. Assistant coach Mark Byington will take over the team, which started the season 10-2 with wins over Clemson and Tennessee, but have lost six of their last eight. Cremins was at his home on Hilton Head Island when the announcement was made. The school did not specify Cremins' conditions or put a time frame on his return, and asked reporters to respect his privacy. Charleston athletic director Joe Hull did say Cremins' condition was not life threatening. "I personally hope he coaches for many years to come," Hull said. Byington said Cremins has not looked healthy for the past few weeks and called around 7:15 a.m. Friday to say he needed to take time off. "The despair in his voice last night and this morning, I knew something was wrong," Byington said. Cremins, 64, is in his sixth season with the Cougars after spending 19 years coaching Georgia Tech. He has led Charleston to 20 victories in each of his seasons, but his teams haven't been able to win the Southern Conference tournament to get to the NCAAs. He is 579-375 in 31 seasons of coaching, and the Yellow Jackets named their home court for him before he returned to coaching in 2006. Cremins grew up in the Bronx, came south to play for South Carolina and fellow New York-transplant Frank McGuire. He got his first head coaching job at Appalachian State, leading the Mountaineers to the NCAA tournament in 1979. Three years later, he left for Georgia Tech and the Atlantic Coast Conference. He led the Yellow Jackets to nine NCAA tournament appearances and reached the Final Four in 1990. He also won three ACC tournament titles and two regular-season crowns before the program tailed off and he was let go after the 2000 season. Cremins spent the next several years as a college basketball analyst, playing tennis on Hilton Head, until deciding to come back to coaching at the College of Charleston. Byington has been at Charleston nine seasons and has been Cremins' top assistant for all six of his years with the Cougars. He led the team's practice, telling them they needed to play well for Cremins and just concentrate on Saturday's game against Wofford. "We're going to make it through," Byington said. You're going to deal with worse things in your life.