Tweet about tweet
Woodland Hills’ Furjanic complained about technical on his Twitter account
Woodland Hills basketball coach censured for post about official’s call.
High school sports has certainly been different because of COVID-19. Now comes the strange case of a basketball coach who has been slapped on the wrist by the WPIAL for using Twitter to question a technical foul he received after using the word “dammit” toward an official.
The WPIAL board of directors has publicly censured Woodland Hills boys coach Matt Furjanic and recommended the school take further action against him if the district feels it is justified if Furjanic does not adhere to sportsmanship expectations as outlined by PIAA bylaws.
The WPIAL made its decision after a board of directors hearing with Furjanic on Wednesday. Is this a case of a high school governing body starting to police social media?
“We don’t want to get involved with policing social media,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said. “But schools need to make coaches aware that social media is not the form they should be using to address complaints.”
Woodland Hills athletic director Ron Coursey said he could not go into detail because it’s a personnel matter but said there is an investigation.
At issue is a PIAA rule concerning the public criticism of sports officials. In a game last Friday, Furjanic was issued a technical foul. He told the WPIAL board Wednesday that the technical was assessed because he complained about the lack of a traveling call against Gateway and said to an official, “dammit, that’s steps.”
The PIAA established a new rule this year to try to curb offensive language toward officials. The rule says a player or coach can get a twogame suspension if ejected for “using foul or vulgar language, ethnic or racially insensitive comments or physical contact.”
But Furjanic wasn’t ejected. He was simply assessed a technical foul. The game was finished and it would’ve probably been case closed. After the game, Furjanic informed Coursey that he received a technical for saying “dammit.” But Furjanic complicated matters Sunday when he posted on his Twitter account and tagged the WPIAL account:
“Well the new cursing rule I got a T for Dammit. My Mom used to say that & she never cursed. Seems HS officials can be subjective in this rule. Needs clarity. If I put God in front I see. My Mother never said those 2 together. Maybe a list of words should be given out. @wpial7.”
Furjanic’s tweet is now deleted. At the start of the hearing, WPIAL president Scott Seltzer told Furjanic the hearing was called because of Furjanic’s tweet, and not because he received a technical.
Furjanic is in his second season of his second stint at Woodland Hills but has been coaching basketball in six different decades. He took Robert Morris University to two NCAA tournaments in the early 1980s and coached at junior college in Florida from 2000-17. He acknowledged it was a mistake to tweet his feelings. He apologized a few different times for the move. But he contended that “dammit” is not swearing.
“In my opinion, it’s very subjective on what is a curse word,” he told the WPIAL board.
The WPIAL said any other unsportsmanlike actions from Furjanic would result in more discipline. The WPIAL also wants Woodland Hills to come up with a plan to inform all of the district’s coaches about rules concerning sportsmanship.
Botta retires
One of the longest-tenured head coaches in WPIAL football has coached his final game.
Greg Botta, Franklin Regional’s coach for 27 seasons, has decided to retire. Botta built Franklin Regional into a prominent program, winning WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2005 and being named the Post-Gazette coach of the year.