The Niigata Albirex BB reached the playoffs in each of Fujitaka Hiraoka's two seasons as head coach.

But they failed to advance to the Final Four, which they did in May 2013 under Hiraoka's predecessor, Matt Garrison.

On Wednesday, the Albirex announced that Hiraoka, 41, will not be back as bench boss for the upcoming campaign. His contract expired and the Hokuriku-based franchise chose not to renew it.

In Hiraoka's two seasons at the helm, Niigata went 67-37 in the regular season.

The Albirex finished fourth in the 12-team Eastern Conference this season with a 36-16 mark.

In a team-issued statement, Hiraoka said he won't forget his time with the team nor its collective fight together. He offered thanks for the team's supporters, shareholders and sponsors over the past 15 years.

Niigata won 15 of its 17 games to close out the regular season, then swept the fifth-seeded Toyama Grouses in a first-round playoff series. In the conference semifinals last weekend, the top-seeded Akita Northern Happinets edged Niigata 19-18 in the Game 3 tiebreaker, a 10-minute contest held after the conclusion of the second game on Sunday.

Last season, Toyama knocked off Niigata in the East semifinals.

Hiraoka had been with Niigata since 2000, when it entered the JBL. He was a player for the club until 2005, then served as an assistant under head coach Masaya Hirose until 2011, and then his replacement, Garrison, until 2013.