Woodland Hills players give support to new coach

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An unforgiving summer sun beamed down as Woodland Hills receivers practiced their routes and running backs ran through cone drills.

As its football field, Wolvarena, receives a tune-up for the season, coach Kevin Murray watched from the center circle of the school’s soccer field while his defense eyed the ball carrier, practicing pursuit angles.

With drills running like clockwork, you’d assume nothing other than a standard offseason for the Wolverines. Despite any personal controversy, that’s how Murray wanted to keep it for his players.

“This isn’t about Kevin Murray,” Murray said. “This is about Woodland Hills football.”

It’s a statement reflective of his feelings on the past few months, if not year.

In addition to leading the perennial playoff contenders on the football field, Murray is the school’s principal. In his principal capacity, Murray has been on unpaid leave since July 1 and is waiting to see if the Pennsylvania Department of Education renews his certification, without which he can’t work in a Pennsylvania public school as a teacher or principal. He can, however, still coach the team, which pays $12,000 a year.

He had previously been placed on paid leave in November 2016 after an audio recording surfaced of him appearing to threaten to strike a student the district said was being disrespectful to his teacher, but was not charged with a crime and was reinstated in January. Murray found himself in the spotlight again in April when two surveillance videos were released, with one of the videos showing school resource officer Steve Shaulis appearing to use a Taser on a student while Murray helps