Pine-Richland 2021
- Thread starter new2pa
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I’ll pay for his house in Easton if he’d like. Happy to manufacture a scandal to create a job opening too.
So from what I can chalk up is that admin has wanted him gone for a while now and used the hazing stuff as a cop out. There was a post gazette article about an alleged hazing incident that happened years ago. The whole thing reeks of a massive power struggle. Apparently a school board member just resigned. The backlash from the community has been pouring in and I don’t expect that to end soon. But yeah, this is just absolutely shocking and gut wrenching. Canning a coach because of politics is one thing and happens all the time, but right in the smack of spring ball and off-season before summer camp? Deliberate decapitation by the administration. They might’ve just ruined one of the all time great runs by a coach. And the whole staff too??? This has to be the most unprecedented move in PIAA history.
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It’s shocking. And if the hazing stuff is a cop out by the administration, it’s a disgrace that they’d do that to anyone. If you want to fire him because you don’t like him, just do so. But do not tarnish his name by blaming him for hazing that never happened. Granted, I don’t know the facts; I’m speculating based on what everyone is saying.
Seems like Coach K being gone is a foregone conclusion are this point, so wanted to fall back to the team.
Who will next Coach be? I think the three leading candidates are Jon LeDonne from Penn Hills, Steve Brezilla from PCC or Brinkley from NA. If they have the guts to apply. Very bad situation. LeDonne and Brezilla live in P-R.
Here’s a hard question - which, if any players may transfer?
It seems to me that the school or WPIAL or PIAA would/should allow it without penalty given they are coming from a program that “hazed.” (How dumb is that.)
Hasley, Gochis, Lenz, Eastburn and Domer are all rising seniors and mostly returning starters. PCC is out for them as seniors and unless their parents are going to do a last-second move, North Catholic seems like the only option. All but Eastburn would be sure starters on any team in the state, except maybe SJP.
The other returning starter Is the center, Kerns. He’ll be a Junior.
Or maybe they will all stay. New coach selection may play a role in that. But it’s getting late.
Who will next Coach be? I think the three leading candidates are Jon LeDonne from Penn Hills, Steve Brezilla from PCC or Brinkley from NA. If they have the guts to apply. Very bad situation. LeDonne and Brezilla live in P-R.
Here’s a hard question - which, if any players may transfer?
It seems to me that the school or WPIAL or PIAA would/should allow it without penalty given they are coming from a program that “hazed.” (How dumb is that.)
Hasley, Gochis, Lenz, Eastburn and Domer are all rising seniors and mostly returning starters. PCC is out for them as seniors and unless their parents are going to do a last-second move, North Catholic seems like the only option. All but Eastburn would be sure starters on any team in the state, except maybe SJP.
The other returning starter Is the center, Kerns. He’ll be a Junior.
Or maybe they will all stay. New coach selection may play a role in that. But it’s getting late.
I would be pretty surprised if a highly qualified coach with past success, like Le Donne, would want this job. From the outside, it looks like a complete dumpster fire regarding administration, board, AD turnover, relationships, etc. Not to mention the fact that Coach K created enormous expectations. Those are hard shoes to fill. It will be tough to live up to what has become the norm there.
All three are excellent coaches IMO. LeDonne is certainly interested and a leading candidate.
No players will transfer. Kids are very resilient, all they really want is a good coach in place and that will happen very soon. Especially if a local person is hired.
Coaches are much, much easier to replace then one might think - no matter what expectations are set. This has happens all over the WPIAL. A new coach will come into tis program on fire, and soon no one will care about this mess.
Someone will get their coaching credentials off the work that Coach K put in. This program is set for success, just hire a coach that won't screw it up.
No players will transfer. Kids are very resilient, all they really want is a good coach in place and that will happen very soon. Especially if a local person is hired.
Coaches are much, much easier to replace then one might think - no matter what expectations are set. This has happens all over the WPIAL. A new coach will come into tis program on fire, and soon no one will care about this mess.
Someone will get their coaching credentials off the work that Coach K put in. This program is set for success, just hire a coach that won't screw it up.
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The only scenario I see people moving their kids is if that salopek clown some how became HC. The other internal candidate, densmore, I don’t think would be an entirely awful choice despite his record at butler. He didn’t have much to work with at butler and is well respected by kids in the building. I just know he has different football philosophy’s then the other staff however. After watching PCC’s offense over the years I wouldn’t wanna go with Bezilla but something also thinks totten had a lot to do with that. Same with the Brinkley guy, NA’s defense has gotten shredded at pretty much every pivotal moment since 2012. I believe if change is 100% going to happen, ledonne is the best candidate. He runs similar schemes to current staff, and has the championship pedigree at the current classification. I think you could see the opposite maybe, some of his kids trying to follow him from PH. Bottom line though, transferring is hard on the student and parents. The kid isn’t trying to leave their friends to go to some new school for a year or two, I don’t think most parents would wanna suddenly shell out so much for private school tuition or new housing in a new district. Plus all the eligibility BS added on top of it. I’m pretty sure two board members have kids on the team or with relationships to them, maybe those kids leave? Other than that I wouldn’t bet on anyone in the HS building leaving. I think you could see people in the younger level of the program look elsewhere though, for sure a possibility. Coach K’s son is a up and coming freshman QB this fall will be interesting how this all plays out. All in all I believe this will surely be the end of the board members and the administration, but unfortunately at the cost of a great coach.
From what I know, LeDonne is the best coach among those mentioned. He also is the worst match for P-R's administration.
Interesting comments about transferring. Now that I read those, I tend to think they are true. Likely that most if not all kids won't transfer.
The record speaks for itself. 85-18, 2 state titles and 4 WPIALs in 8 years.
Last 4 years have been 47-5 3/2. That ridiculously good.
Interesting comments about transferring. Now that I read those, I tend to think they are true. Likely that most if not all kids won't transfer.
The record speaks for itself. 85-18, 2 state titles and 4 WPIALs in 8 years.
Last 4 years have been 47-5 3/2. That ridiculously good.
Coach K has an exceptional record, is a great coach and good guy, having said all that, he has put everything in place for the next coach to be successful...There is NO building to do, the interest is there. The incoming coach has NO building to do whatsoever. The program is solid, the booster program is financially sound, strength & conditioning implemented, participation numbers up, leaders built, winning taught......all the next coach must do is surround himself with good staff and not screw up. All the hard work was done by Kasper. Without doing any of the work, they are being handed the keys to the Ferrari. ....Good thing is ALL these coaches being interviewed know the X's and O's of football.
I agree there is a great foundation in place; probably better than any public school in the state. However, I would not assume that the any new coach will have the same ability to develop players and implement schematics and adjustments as Coach K. Did Jackson need a lot of development? Probably not, he’s blessed with tremendous size and ability. But, their staff did a remarkable job developing a kid like Cole Spencer. Likewise, their OL coach assembles a top-flight group every year. On schematics and adjustments, some of the WPIAL schools (particularly large 6A programs) are stuck in the 80s and 90s. I believe PR’s innovative scheme (implemented by Coach K and his staff) gives them a competitive advantage over many teams in their conference. There’s a reason coaches from all over the country have visited their program.
Keep in mind, Malinowski (sp?) has said he is leaving if Coach K isn’t reinstated. He is their strength coach. A new strength coach will not come into the program and say “do what you always do.” They’ll start something new, and there’s always a chance in can be less effective. Not only is losing Coach K himself a big deal, losing the entire staff is massive.
These are just a few examples, and not a shot at any other coaches or programs. Do these factors account for all of the success they have had? Of course not. However, I do believe that these seemingly small details add up to winning consistently over a long period of time (and at a high level).
Keep in mind, Malinowski (sp?) has said he is leaving if Coach K isn’t reinstated. He is their strength coach. A new strength coach will not come into the program and say “do what you always do.” They’ll start something new, and there’s always a chance in can be less effective. Not only is losing Coach K himself a big deal, losing the entire staff is massive.
These are just a few examples, and not a shot at any other coaches or programs. Do these factors account for all of the success they have had? Of course not. However, I do believe that these seemingly small details add up to winning consistently over a long period of time (and at a high level).
I don't disagree with any of that. I guess we'll end up seeing on the scoreboard. I thought they had things in place to be playing again for a state title against Imhotep this fall.
I agree with this too. The staff matters. The key pieces have been together since I've been following them and even longer for some. And not only were they together, they were good.
P-R stays in 5A this year so I think they will be fine. WPIAL 5A doesn't seem strong to me this year. When they go back to 6A though, things could get rough.
Whoever is hired will bring in an exceptional staff. They will build players, they will scheme and game plan...most importantly.....they will not cause any issues lol...PR is not a hard place to recruit coaches to, and there are number of excellent coaches in the area to draw from. A lot of young talent, with a lot of great ideas. Same with the S&C coach, there are a number of personal trainers to draw form in the area. It will not be as hard as you think
Anything that is actually football related is necessary. The last I heard before this debacle was that P-R was going to play Harrisburg. Not sure location or time. That seems like a decade ago.
Unless things move quickly, P-R may miss out on getting a quality opponent for their Week 0 game. Obviously, they'll be able to find one at some point hopefully.
Regarding the earlier comment about transfers, is it truly possible that a mass exodus can occur if the new coach hired isn't liked? If so, and if this is a possibility somewhat, why would a LeDonne or a Brinkley or a Brezilla want this job knowing that the returning players will probably not want you there? There's too much baggage involved with this job and if they don't get things moving quickly, it's going to get much uglier.
Regarding the earlier comment about transfers, is it truly possible that a mass exodus can occur if the new coach hired isn't liked? If so, and if this is a possibility somewhat, why would a LeDonne or a Brinkley or a Brezilla want this job knowing that the returning players will probably not want you there? There's too much baggage involved with this job and if they don't get things moving quickly, it's going to get much uglier.
Curious about all this talk of students / players transferring out of P-R when I thought it and all the public schools around it were "boundary schools." Where could they legitimately go--other than to a private school (including a Catholic one)?
The easiest is North Catholic. 6 miles away down a main road. PCC doesn't take senior transfers and they are 20+ miles in the city. I don't see that happening for many. Moving to NA or Mars would be about the only other practical option for football. Butler, Hampton, Knoch, Deer Lakes, NH, FC are also nearby but stink.
transfer - maybe 2 max
quit - unknown
I think fallout on numbers begins next year and later.
Last I heard they had about 80 in 10-12 and another 30 in 9th for the fall.
But, they easily have enough talent to win WPIALs again. That will keep kids coming out.
quit - unknown
I think fallout on numbers begins next year and later.
Last I heard they had about 80 in 10-12 and another 30 in 9th for the fall.
But, they easily have enough talent to win WPIALs again. That will keep kids coming out.
It appears PR will stiil have a lot of talent ,but,but IMO coach K was the key to the programs success particularly during games. Even with talent returning I have some doubt PR will achieve the level of accomplishment that Coack K instilled . PR will not be the same for sure.
There is a ton of talent coming back. I do not think it will be as hard to replace Eric as you think. There are a lot of talented coaches in the area willing to put in the time. they will have a lot to prove, but whoever ends up the HC will have the athletes to win 5A. What other teams in 5A are strong enough to beat PR?
I generally agree with this comment this year. They have a top 3 player in 5A in Hasley and a good group of talented returners.
just remember though - Coach K was 5-5 in 2013 with DiNucci, Slomka, etc.
I think it’s a little more than just rolling the ball out. But also think they have a strong system and culture and it should be able to survive a year or two.
Next coach either builds on it or doesn’t. Time will tell.
Imhotep if coached well. I woulod just love to see coach K have the Tep job. They would be world beaters.
