Clark led the team to six consecutive victories in 2007, which consequently gained them promotion into EuroBasket Division-A.

Last year Britain finished bottom of a group that included three teams who will compete at EuroBasket 2009 and in January they narrowly missed out on securing their A-Division status.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has given Britain the target of being a Division-A team to be able to take up the hosts' slot for 2012, so the team must now ensure they are promoted from Division-B, which runs throughout 2010 and 2011.

Clark said: “Following discussions with British Basketball I am resigning from the position of head coach of the women’s team.

“I feel extremely privileged to have head coached the GB team and proud of the progress the team has made over the three seasons.

"I would like to formally thank the Basketball Associations of England, Scotland and Wales for the opportunity they gave me three years ago and the work of Great Britain Basketball in developing a programme that is on the verge of competing with the elite countries in Europe.

“I am stepping aside to give the programme as much time as possible to establish the new direction it seeks.

“I would finally like to thank all the players and staff who have worked with me in establishing the programme and hope that they are able to enjoy future success for our game at international level."

Chris Spice, the performance director of British Basketball said: “We would like to thank Mark for his tireless efforts with the British Basketball women’s high performance programme over the past three seasons.

"We wish him well in his future coaching endeavours."

With no EuroBasket campaign this summer British Basketball will be looking for a new head coach for the women’s training camp in June 2009.