Pine Richland article

[Stalker]

I couldn't get the other on previous post to open. Typical behavior by today's wusses of a particular persuasion to fire him in an email.​

​

Eric Kasperowicz, championship football coach, fired at Pine-Richland​

MIKE WHITE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
mwhite@post-gazette.com

APR 14, 2021

7:17 PM

Eric Kasperowicz built Pine-Richland High School’s football team into one of the top programs in the state. He won four WPIAL titles and two state championships, and he brought national attention to the school.
But Wednesday night, Pine-Richland informed Kasperowicz that he is out as coach — and Pine-Richland informed Kasperowicz of his ouster in an email.
Kasperowicz received an email from Pine-Richland administration that his contract will not be renewed and his job will be opened. All of Kasperowicz’s assistants also received an email notifying them that they also have been let go.
Kasperowicz’s removal as coach will be met with shock around Western Pennsylvania high school sports. He was one of the most successful coaches in the WPIAL in any sport. In his eight seasons, Kasperowicz had a record of 85-18 (.825 winning percentage). He is a teacher at North Hills High School.

Mike White
Eric Kasperowicz denies any hazing or bullying took place at Pine-Richland
The reasons for Kasperowicz’s removal are unclear. Kasperowicz was supposed to have a meeting with school administrators Wednesday night at 8. The school had told Kasperowicz that it had been conducting an investigation into alleged hazing incidents in recent years. The Post-Gazette learned that Pine-Richland school principals had been meeting with current and former players, asking them about the culture of the program and incidents in the locker room.

Kasperowicz said Wednesday night he was not ready to make a comment until probably Thursday. A few of his assistants said they will comment after Kasperowicz. The email to Kasperowicz and his assistants came from Pine-Richland athletic director Sean Simmons, but Simmons will be leaving Pine-Richland soon to become Shady Side Academy’s athletic director. Simmons said Wednesday night that he couldn’t comment on the matter. Other Pine-Richland administrators couldn’t be reached for comment.
Cole Spencer, star quarterback of this year’s team that won WPIAL and PIAA championships, said he met twice with Pine-Richland administrators and was asked about incidents. He met once with principal Nancy Bowman and assistant principal T.J. Salopek, and a second time with Bowman, Salopek and Simmons.
“They were asking about stuff from six-seven years ago,” Spencer said.
At a Pine-Richland school board meeting this past Monday night, the board met in executive session. Salopek was also named the new athletic director at the meeting, effective June 1.
Spencer called the investigation by the principals a “joke.”

Mike White/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
WPIAL rules Birch brothers ineligible for football at Gateway
“Yeah, two best friends might have been goofing around sometimes in the locker room, but c’mon,” Spencer said. “There was never any hazing or anything over the line that I knew of.
“This is just crazy. The guy comes in, wins two state titles and WPIALs. Why would you fire this guy? He is the best thing that ever happened to that program and also for that high school. That school has been put on the map nationally because of what he did in football. For the administration to hate him so much to fire him is unbelievable.”
Jordan Crawford was a standout running back-defensive back on Pine-Richland’s state championship team four years ago. He said he also was interviewed by Pine-Richland administrators about hazing.
“They tried to put the word hazing on stupid stuff,” Crawford said. “Honestly, they asked me if there was ever any towel whipping going on in the locker room. I laughed. I told them, ‘Yeah, there was. When my best friend would walk by me sometimes in the locker room, I would hit him with my towel.’ You want to call that hazing? What a joke.
“There’s going to be an outcry in this community over this. … Pine-Richland made the worst decision they ever made by doing this. And after what he has done for that program and school? He was like a second Dad to us.”
Pine-Richland players, current and past, took to Twitter on Wednesday night to show their support of Kasperowicz and his staff, but also displayed shock and disbelief.
“If I had to guess why Pine-Richland did this is because for years and years, they wanted the school to be known as an academic school,” Crawford said. “That’s OK, but Coach K came in, just crushed it as a coach and brought all this attention to the school for football.”
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh.
First Published April 14, 2021, 7:17pm

 

[roxychknpoxy]

Wow!!!! That’s some shock waves there. I’ll reserve further comment, but I’d be hard pressed to believe that the coach manifested such a culture.

 

[bucksftball]

“I am disappointed by this decision and want to unequivocally state that no bullying or hazing took place in the Pine-Richland football program under my watch,” Kasperowicz said. “I never condoned any bullying or hazing. If I became aware of any such claims I met with the individuals and immediately put an end to it. I addressed and resolved these infrequent events over my eight-year tenure internally within the team. The players and coaches were made aware of my zero tolerance for this type of behavior. Certainly if bullying or hazing had occurred under my watch, I would have followed proper reporting procedures as I have always done throughout my professional career.

“I want to thank all my supporters who know the safety and well-being of students is and will always be my utmost priority.”

 

[Bighead75]

Wonder if someone from the SJP staff will be recruited?

 

[tulla]

Wonder if someone from the SJP staff will be recruited?

I seriously doubt it. If the school or board admin wants to de-emphasize football, I can't imagine they would be interested in hiring someone from 300 miles away who's been part of the most high-profile HS football program in the state.

I know nothing about the P-R situation beyond what I've read on here, but I assume there's another point of view that might not get publicly expressed for legal reasons or simply because some see nothing to gain from a back-and-forth exchange. SJP, of course, went through something at least a little similar when Brooks was fired. Lots of raw emotions. At the time many thought it was part of a move to de-emphasize football, which was not, of course, the case.

 

[bummer01]

I feel like P-R will hire some assistant from Hampton or Mars that will be a first-time HC, because who the hell would want this job knowing that the administration will be up their behinds all the time. It'll be someone who they can manipulate probably. I went to P-R. It seems like everything the school board puts their hands on they screw up. They should've been axed.

 

[bucksftball]

I seriously doubt it. If the school or board admin wants to de-emphasize football, I can't imagine they would be interested in hiring someone from 300 miles away who's been part of the most high-profile HS football program in the state.

I know nothing about the P-R situation beyond what I've read on here, but I assume there's another point of view that might not get publicly expressed for legal reasons or simply because some see nothing to gain from a back-and-forth exchange. SJP, of course, went through something at least a little similar when Brooks was fired. Lots of raw emotions. At the time many thought it was part of a move to de-emphasize football, which was not, of course, the case.

I agree with this... he issued a denial in which he states both that it "unequivocally" did not happen, but also, when claims were made and incidents occurred he handled it internally. (kind of hard for both to be true) Most likely we will never know what really went on, because everyone involved would have been minors. In the case of CB West, there were a lot of strong denials early on, de-emphasizing the severity of the incident, etc... and you only got the full story if you were close to parents of kids who were the targets of the behavior.

This could be a matter of semantics, of what each side considers the definition of bullying and hazing. What's puzzling is the going back five years... like they're trying to establish a pattern within the program. Whatever did or didn't occur, it's a very sad day for that program.

 

[Stalker]

I'd like to see the entire team make a statement transferring to North Allegheny, abstractly keeping it in the family.

 

[bummer01]

Do you think any established coach will want this job? Considering not only the baggage involved but the amount of time left before next season. Can they build a culture where the players won't see the new staff as replacements that have no reason to be there?

 

[new2pa]

I’m trying to figure all this out. Lots of statements today by assistant coaches including the one in a new PG article where 5 assistants go on record saying that AD told them and 8 others coaches (including Coach K) that the asst Supt “hated” Coach Kasper and wanted him fired.

All of this is hard to believe. We will see where this goes but I’m hearing stuff like the coaching staff is going to try and force the resignation of the senior leadership and school board. I mentioned in another thread the animosity between admin and the football program. All this seems like it confirms it.

Crazy.

 

[sammyk]

As a coach this is downright terrifying. Now we do not know everything or what did or did not happen but the fact that they emailed him and said see you later is terribly unprofessional. If the district had proof of hazing and the coach knew there was hazing and did nothing about it that is one thing but from this it sounds like there was nothing like that. As stated earlier you will get some young guy who thinks this will be one of those great opportunities but as a veteran coach I do not touch this place with a 10'pole.

 

[kpeast]

This is purely motivated by hate for athletics by the Supt and Asst. Supt. This is the third winning coach run off by them in the last few years and they run off ADs just as quickly. It's a toxic environment for coaches. They have turned this once proud district into a laughing stock. It's time for change in administration.

 

[lilromeo]

I’m trying to figure all this out. Lots of statements today by assistant coaches including the one in a new PG article where 5 assistants go on record saying that AD told them and 8 others coaches (including Coach K) that the asst Supt “hated” Coach Kasper and wanted him fired.

All of this is hard to believe. We will see where this goes but I’m hearing stuff like the coaching staff is going to try and force the resignation of the senior leadership and school board. I mentioned in another thread the animosity between admin and the football program. All this seems like it confirms it.

Crazy.

Coach K did an outstanding job building and maintaining an excellent program at PR. I gaine d a lot of respect for him when I watched his first game against St Joe and games since then. IMO any school would be glad to have him ,that is any school but PR I guess, This is really ridiculous. Best of luck to the entire former coaches. I feel for the players returning , Maybe they should get out of there also.

 

[JACKY6996]

As a coach this is downright terrifying. Now we do not know everything or what did or did not happen but the fact that they emailed him and said see you later is terribly unprofessional. If the district had proof of hazing and the coach knew there was hazing and did nothing about it that is one thing but from this it sounds like there was nothing like that. As stated earlier you will get some young guy who thinks this will be one of those great opportunities but as a veteran coach I do not touch this place with a 10'pole.

I’ll try to post more info later, but this isn’t over. There hasn’t been this much noise here like this in a while. The school district is gonna be forced to address this. A school board member just resigned. Coach k just re applied for the position again

 

[new2pa]

Its unbelievable. It seems now that the coaches have decided to take on the entire administration and possibly school board.

I just saw a coach on evening news call for the resignation of all the P-R senior administration.

Teachers are jumping on board now too.

Students walked out of school.

This is quickly becoming a national-level story.

 

[bummer01]

This could carry on for weeks. The big question is, will the administration consider re-hiring Kasperowicz? I don't think so. The longer this goes, the less valuable the P-R job will be to exterior candidates. I saw in the leaked text messages from the now-resigned board member, that someone brought up that "Penn Hills coach", meaning LeDonne. No way will any established coach come here especially with the clown show school board that's here.

 

[bummer01]

 

[Relayer]

Following up on bummer's post, nice article showing the support from rival schools and coaches.

Urged not to apply at Pine-Richland, coaches statewide pledge support for ousted coach Eric Kasperowicz | Trib HSSN

Dozens of high school football coaches statewide have used social media to announce their support for coach Eric Kasperowicz and his assistants, who were fired at Pine-Richland on Wednesday.

tribhssn.triblive.com

 

[new2pa]

I thought a lot about this over the weekend and talked to a lot of people. I think what it comes down to is that the school board and/or administration thought that the coaches would back down. Not only didn't they back down, they also took the fight to the admin and board. One school board director already resigned. People, including one coach are publicly calling for administrators and school board members to resign.

It seems to me that now people in the community are now standing up and talking about things way more significant than firing a coach. We'll see what pans out, but I think its just as likely that Coach K comes back as it is some administrator's and School Board members are retained.

School board election is in 2 weeks for 4 members which will change composition of board.

 

[bummer01]

I just listen to Luke Miller's interview with Mark Madden. Very intelligent, well-mannered, and soft-spoken kid. He mentioned that some underclassmen "want to get out of Pine-Richland". My question is, could these kids seriously transfer for football and where to? North Catholic? Central? Also, who may transfer? That Cruz kid comes to mind at first, but there may be others. With thirty kids who graduated this past year, there will be twenty-one more this upcoming year. If underclassmen quit or transfer, could we see the Pine-Richland football program crumble and return to the way it was 10-15 years ago?

new2pa, two questions regarding the school board election:
1. If these school board members are voted out, does their term end there or at the end of this year/beginning of next year?
2. Can you see the school board pushing in a new head coaching hire before the election?

 

[new2pa]

I think the kids could go anywhere and be eligible. Just claim the program has a history of hazing and bullying and some of those players are still there. Completely false, but that's what admin has enabled if they wish to leave.

bummer01: Answers

1. Term ends sometime after the November general elections. Primaries are in a couple week and they are all running on both sides of the ticket. If they win both sides, they are in.

2. I can see the board doing anything.

But, as every day goes by, this seems like it bigger than football and about to explode.

 

[bummer01]

Do you think anything will come of this or will the admin ignore it?

 

[new2pa]

I just got back from the rally.

6 minutes of silence was really cool. (6 is the number they give to senior player that best exemplifies being a Ram.)

Attorney for kid that they tried to stand up as the hazed kid (but wasn’t) got up and called for Superintendents head. 😳


Rumors spreading like wildfire that more news is coming on this front.

I believe there is at least a 50% chance this incident ends up taking down Supt, Asst Supt, new AD, and maybe HS principal.

 

[HSFB99]

What are some of the rumors that could take down the administration?

 

[bummer01]

I'm still puzzled by the fact that an assistant principal with no AD experience got hired at a 5A school.

 

[new2pa]

What are some of the rumors that could take down the administration?

Supposed to watch news tonight to confirm.

 

[new2pa]

I'm still puzzled by the fact that an assistant principal with no AD experience got hired at a 5A school.

Same guy that led investigation.

Got promoted with raise 15 minutes after he presented findings and recommendation.

He worked with Supt and Asst Supt at NA.

He’s there as a yes-man

 

[bummer01]

Same guy that led investigation.

Got promoted with raise 15 minutes after he presented findings and recommendation.

He worked with Supt and Asst Supt at NA.

He’s there as a yes-man

I'm honestly curious about how the administration really treats their AD's. Shoop left for Plum and Simmons is leaving for SSA. In the naked eye, the P-R job is the best in the WPIAL in my opinion. I'm at school studying Sport Management, and I could just do the opposite of what P-R does, because it seems like everything they touch gets screwed up.

 

[sammyk]

I'm still puzzled by the fact that an assistant principal with no AD experience got hired at a 5A school.

Welcome to Western PA where who you know means a lot more than what you know

 

[new2pa]

Press conference today at 3:30. Here is the link. Reported on twitter that media is allowed, but no questions.

Communications / PRTV LIVE Streaming

Pine-Richland Television, or PRTV, offers live streaming coverage of most events across the school district.

www.pinerichland.org

 

[bummer01]

That was probably the biggest waste of a press conference ever

 

[bucksftball]

That was probably the biggest waste of a press conference ever

Yes and no... I think what we learned was that the administration is not going to fold to public pressure and that there "may" be more to the story. To those that didn't see the press conference, the school board president said they issued a letter to him spelling out exactly why he wouldn't be hired back for another season, and that coach is the only one who could release that letter to the public. The other interesting note was that they conducted a long interview with him and that interview apparently was a factor in his dismissal.

 

[new2pa]

Bucksftball: the interview comment caught me by surprise as well.

I have not seen any response by Coach K or any staff member since the live press release.

 

[bummer01]

I guess my comment focused on the fact that it was only ten minutes and it was a statement that was prepared beforehand. Plus there were no questions allowed. Do you think there is more to the story? I guess this conference put down any hopes of Kasperowicz being brought back. They're truly staying strong and not caving in to the public pressure.

 

[new2pa]

There has to be more to the story.

If there was a smoking gun, I think it would have had to come out by now.

Like with the district, we have yet to hear anything descriptive from Coach K.

‘Maybe we will, or maybe that’s on the advice of lawyers based on what’s in the letter and what the legal plan forward is.

One thing we do know is the school has not taken anything to the local police for investigation. That’s about it in terms of facts. Everything else is he said / she said.

 

[JACKY6996]

I guess my comment focused on the fact that it was only ten minutes and it was a statement that was prepared beforehand. Plus there were no questions allowed. Do you think there is more to the story? I guess this conference put down any hopes of Kasperowicz being brought back. They're truly staying strong and not caving in to the public pressure.

Yeah no way in hell this board was gonna just take him back after some outcry and him reapplying. This is just them trying to save face before this election next month. That’s going to be the difference maker and will decide the future of the program, it’s up to the community to vote these clowns out if they want real change in their school in general (not just football). Like new said I don’t think admin will survive this when’s it’s all done it blew up on them now they’re being hated on by everyone in Pr. Kids were literally wearing Brian Miller dressed as a clown on T shirts. Also the lack of anyone corroborating with the admins side of the story is astounding as well, this whole thing has been smoke and mirrors.

 

[bucksftball]

I guess my comment focused on the fact that it was only ten minutes and it was a statement that was prepared beforehand. Plus there were no questions allowed. Do you think there is more to the story? I guess this conference put down any hopes of Kasperowicz being brought back. They're truly staying strong and not caving in to the public pressure.

Yeah, I don't know why they needed to call a press conference when they could have simply released the written statement. Obviously with the media coverage, you get more effect on the local news if they have tape they can roll from the event.

Some more thoughts after reflecting on all of it... keep in mind I know absolutely nothing about the program or school district, besides the tremendous success of the program. What I do know is that there are parallels between this and the West hazing scandal.

1. Coach K's initial statement was problematic, both denying anything ever took place and also noting that when it did, he took care of it internally within the program immediately. That's a contradictory statement and the other red flag is saying he handled it internally. Most athletic programs have very specific procedures to deal with those type of issues and handling it internally is never one of the options.
2. While I don't think Coach K ever lied about its existence, the public was led to believe that there was just one email telling him and his assistants that they weren't coming back, and that the real reasons were just being left to rumor and innuendo. The fact that there is apparently a letter outlining why he wasn't brought back and he didn't respond to those specific allegations when given the chance is another problem.
3. The press conference also referenced "rites of passage" which to me sounds like something that's done every year with incoming freshmen or the rising sophs entering the V/JV program.
4. Don't expect kids and families to be coming forward even if there was something bad done to them. You're a kid at PR, hundreds of your classmates are protesting for the coach to be retained, you're probably a marginal player on the team or not even playing anymore... what do you have to gain by taking on the most popular coach / players in your district?

I think what people have to prepare for is the possibility that two things could be true at the same time. The school district does have it out for him. They're jealous of his success and the attention brought on him, plus he teaches in another district so he's not even a part of the academic staff and is much easier to cut loose. AND, at the same time, he was too permissive in allowing unsupervised activities that led to a pattern of behavior and handed the administration the ammunition they needed to cut him loose.

 

[wpialcoach]

How sad is it that all these coaches and football programs came out in support of Coach Kasper....assuming he was not at fault....only to find out that ALL NINE (9) school board members and the administration voted him out.....that sends a very clear message. Do not forget, Coach K and an assistant were suspended for a month in 2018.

 

[sammyk]

How sad is it that all these coaches and football programs came out in support of Coach Kasper....assuming he was not at fault....only to find out that ALL NINE (9) school board members and the administration voted him out.....that sends a very clear message. Do not forget, Coach K and an assistant were suspended for a month in 2018.

uh uh is this a coach who is in Pine Richlands conference

 

[new2pa]

Yeah no way in hell this board was gonna just take him back after some outcry and him reapplying. This is just them trying to save face before this election next month. That’s going to be the difference maker and will decide the future of the program, it’s up to the community to vote these clowns out if they want real change in their school in general (not just football). Like new said I don’t think admin will survive this when’s it’s all done it blew up on them now they’re being hated on by everyone in Pr. Kids were literally wearing Brian Miller dressed as a clown on T shirts. Also the lack of anyone corroborating with the admins side of the story is astounding as well, this whole thing has been smoke and mirrors.

Jacky, you are correct. This seems like it quickly moving to the community. Parents need to step up no and the community needs to during the election. I will be very disappointed if the board and admin stays as-is.