Football coach, staff fired
Eric Kasperowicz built Pine-Richland High School’s football team into one of the top programs in the state. He won four WPIAL titles, two state championships and brought national attention to the school.
But Wednesday night, Pine-Richland informed Kasperowicz that he is out as coach — and the school district informed Kasperowicz of his ouster in an email.
Kasperowicz received an email from Pine-Richland administration saying 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.
The reasons for Kasperowicz’s removal are unclear. Kasperowicz was supposed to have a meeting with school administrators Wednesday night. The school district had informed Kasperowicz that it had been conducting an investigation into allegations of hazing in recent years. The Pittsburgh 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 and likely would do so 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 PineRichland 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 could not 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 also was named the new athletic director at the meeting, effective June 1.
Spencer called the investigation by the principals a “joke.”
“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 Wednesday night to show their support of Kasperowicz and his staff, displaying shock and disbelief.
“If I had to guess why PineRichland 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.”
Birch issue to be appealed
The WPIAL ruled on Wedneday that brothers Brad and Brett Birch are ineligible to play football at Gateway High School next season after transferring from Jeannette.
The brothers, who helped Jeannette win the WPIAL Class 1A championship last season, are ineligible for one year after date of transfer. They started taking classes at Gateway on April 5.
Don Holl, football coach and athletic director at Gateway, said the school will appeal the ruling, which means the league will have a hearing with the Birch family and officials from Gateway and Jeannette.
“We’re definitely going to appeal because we believe their transfer was not for athletic intent,” he said. “We believe there’s some misinformation out there and we look forward to having an opportunity to present our case.”
WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said the ineligibility ruling was made because Jeannette administrators did not sign off on the transfer. “The sending principal [ Jeannette’s Joseph Baker] indicated that the transfer may have been in part, or whole, for athletic purposes,” she said.
Transferring for athletic reasons is against WPIAL and PIAA rules. Bob Birch, father of the two players, said last week that the transfer was for family reasons because he and his wife are divorced and his wife moved to Monroeville, part of the Gateway district.
Brad Birch threw for 1,676 yards and 28 touchdowns as a freshman before his season ended with an ankle injury in the WPIAL championship. Brett Birch, a junior, was his brother’s favorite target, catching 46 passes for 669 yards.