C.W. North Catholic’s Long is fired

Veteran basketball coach, 66, out after some questionable remarks to players

For five decades — whether as a player, assistant coach or head coach — Dave Long was associated with the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic boys basketball team. But Long’s days with the program are over, and not of his choosing.

Long, who has been North Catholic’s head coach for 19 seasons and has won four WPIAL championships, essentially was fired Tuesday. He found out after a meeting at the school in Cranberry with school principal Luke Crawford and athletic director Mike Burrell.

Long, 66, was informed he will not return as coach next season, and he said he was dismissed because of parent complaints earlier this season that he used derogatory terms toward players and referred to the movie “Django Unchained” when making a comment to a black player in a practice. The school suspended Long as coach for a few days late in the regular season, but he returned for the playoffs.

Long said he was told by the school in February that the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh made a decision that he could finish out the season but could not return as coach next season. Long said he thought things might change over time, but the meeting Tuesday put a finality to the situation.

“The bottom line is I was found guilty of saying ‘dumb a**’ and ‘little b*****s,’ and making a reference to the movie ‘Django’ that was taken out of context and turned into a racial thing,” Long said. “Those things were on paper, but based on that, no one gets a death sentence for what I was found guilty of doing.”

“Django Unchained” is a 2012movie about a slave.

“I just thought maybe they would reconsider based on all the time I’ve been with the program and my relationship with the school,” Long said. “But that was for naught. … I find this ironic that this is Holy Week and I feel like I’m getting crucified over something as minor as whatI was found guilty of.”

Burrell said the school had no comment. adding: “The only thing I can say is Dave is a great man and a great guy and we wish himnothing but the best.”

Long bleeds red and gold of North Catholic. He is a 1970 graduate of the school and spent 18 years as an assistant to legendary Don Graham, the winningest coach in WPIAL history. When Graham retired in 1999, Long took over. Long’s overall record was 325-176. His team was 13-13 this season and reached the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals after winning WPIAL titles in 2016-17. He was one of six active coaches with four WPIAL titles, won nine section championships and made the WPIAL playoffs 16 seasons in a row.. The Trojans made the WPIAL semifinals 10 of the past 11 years.

“Players and coaches are askedto be held accountable, but, at the same time, you see administrators not being accountable to coaches who have worked their tail off for years, just because of their love of the game and the love of young people,” Long said. “When push comes to shove, administrators aren’t willing to step up to parents and dothe right thing.”

Long said he wanted to coacha couple more years..

“I’ve had eight nieces and nephews go through [North Catholic] and my own six kids went there,” Long said. “I probably spent $150,000 in tuitionthere over the years. I think through Don Graham andmyself, we had one of the better programs in Western Pennsylvania, as far as success. Are there people out there who are happy about this change and that I won’t be there? Of course. But I thought I’d get a few more years.”

When North Catholic relocated from Troy Hill to Cranberry a few years ago, he thought about retiring. “I had open heart surgery while I coached and I’ve been through a heart attack, “I knew they would either carry me out of Cranberry some day or they would run me out of Cranberry. Well, the latter is true. But I guess it’s better than the first option.”

“Those things were on paper, but based on that, no one gets a death sentence for what I was found guilty of doing.” — Dave Long