California girls basketball coach hired

Former assistant coach Chris Minerd was hired as California High School's girls basketball coach during Wednesday's school board meeting. Minerd replaces Cindy Dunlevy.

Minerd's coaching played a role in Beth-Center winning the Section 5-AA girls title this year. He's coached the current group of Bulldogs seniors since they were in sixth grade at various levels, including travel leagues and AAU.

California finished 12-9 overall in 2009-10 and qualified for the WPIAL Class A playoffs with an 8-4 record in Section 3. The Trojans, led by all-district players Kristina Wagner and Morgan Moluski, defeated Monessen in the regular season. California's season ended with a loss to Fort Cherry in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

Ringgold makes Humbert interim football coach

Matt Humbert served as Ringgold's varsity football coach for two games during the 2009 season when Lloyd Price was suspended by the school district.

Humbert won both games and, following Price's sudden and surprising resignation as Ringgold's athletic director and football coach, Ringgold is turning to Humbert once again to fill the void.

The Ringgold School Board made Humbert the interim varsity football coach at Wednesday's meeting. Humbert was Price's teammate at California University and he will oversee offseason workouts until a head coach is named.

Ringgold plans to begin interviews for football coach and athletic director Monday and could have the positions filled by next month's board meeting.

Montecalvo resigns as C-M football coach

Guy Montecalvo, the head football coach at Canon-McMillan High School the past seven years, submitted his letter of resignation last Thursday, effectively ending one of the most storied coaching careers in the history of Washington County.

The Canon-McMillan School Board accepted the resignation at Monday's meeting, which was heavily attended. The resignation caught many in attendance by surprise.

Montecalvo will remain as Canon-McMillan’s athletic director.
“It was a very, very difficult decision. I’ve been agonizing over this the last three or four months,” Montecalvo said Monday.

Montecalvo spent 33 years as a football coach, the last 30 as a head coach. His career record is 225-107-2 and Montecalvo’s win total ranks second to Fort Cherry’s Jim Garry (265) for the most in Washington County history.

The Big Macs qualified for the WPIAL playoffs in four of Montecalvo’s seven years, most recently in 2008 in Class AAAA.

In 23 years at Washington, Montecalvo guided the Prexies to the 2001 PIAA Class AA championship as well as WPIAL titles in 2001 and 1993. Wash High was runners-up in 1990, 1995 and 1998.

Montecalvo was the Prexies' all-time rushing leader and an all-state selection before heading to Penn State on scholarship and he still owns the 200 dash record at the County Coaches Meet.

Before joining Canon-McMillan in 2003, Montecalvo coached Washington's boys and girls track teams. Led by Laila Brock and Tam Nixon, Wash High won the 1996 PIAA Class AA team championship, His boys track teams won two WPIAL team titles.

Among the many well-known players Montecalvo coached are Brian Davis, Dan Mozes and Michael Hull.

Price leaves Ringgold

The coaching carousel at Ringgold High School took another turn last Friday with the resignation of football coach and athletic director Lloyd Price.

Sources told the Observer-Reporter that Price resigned for personal reasons. He did not return a message left on his cell phone Monday afternoon.

Ringgold hired Price as athletic director three years ago at the age of 24. He was the youngest athletic director in the WPIAL at the time of the hire. He replaced Jeff Petrucci as football coach last March and the Rams went 4-6 in 2009 with only one returning starter. Price was suspended for the second and third games of the season for unspecified reasons.

The timing of the resignation, which was effective immediately, is peculiar. Price received a five-year contract extension as athletic director in March. He was to receive $63,616 annually beginning July 1.

Price graduated from Ringgold in 2001 and played three sports – football, basketball and baseball. He played football for John Lukchardt at California University and coached there in 2006.

Ringgold's next football coach will be its eighth in the past 12 years.

West Greene hires Coss

John Coss knows West Greene football can be great.
He worked as an assistant coach for Larry Piper during the early 1990s, highlighted by an appearance in the 1993 WPIAL Class A championship game at Three Rivers Stadium.
That game happens to be the last playoff game West Greene has played and now it’s up to Coss to get the Pioneers back after the school board unanimously hired him Thursday as varsity football coach.
“Hard work gets it done,” said Coss, who went 7-13 during a two-year stint as West Greene’s head coach in 2000 and 2001. “They have to put the time in.”
Coss, a technical education teacher at West Greene, replaces Charles Harris, who spent the past three years as head coach. The Pioneers went 0-9 last year and 3-24 the past three seasons.
They carry a 23-game losing streak into 2010.
“The kids are used to losing. It’s going to take time to turn it around,” said Coss, who also worked as an assistant coach at Mapletown and Waynesburg high schools. “That’s why I’m glad I got a five-year contract. The last time, I only had year-to-year.”
West Greene athletic director Bill Simms is glad to have Coss on board for the next five years as well.
“Number one, he’s a teacher in the district. Number two, he’s a quality, quality man,” Simms said. “He’s been well-accomplished wherever he went. Plus, he’s a stickler for discipline.”

Guess who's back?

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Trinity High School varsity football coach and athletic director Ed Dalton is back, and so are the rest of the Hillers' fall sports coaches.

Trinity School Board unanimously rescinded its decisions to open all fall sports coaching positions and not renew the contract of the athletic director at Thursday's meeting.

The decision to open all fall coaching positions and not renew Dalton's contract as athletic director at December's meeting went against school policy.

Approximately 200 people attended Thursday's meeting in support of Dalton, who is 54-56 in 11 years as Trinity's football coach with five consecutive WPIAL playoff appearances. They erupted in applause upon learning of the decision.

Dudas out at Oakland Catholic

Former South Fayette girls basketball coach Jim Dudas is no longer the coach at perennial power Oakland Catholic.

Dudas was removed from the position after Oakland Catholic started the 2009-10 season with a 3-3 record. The team's next game is scheduled for tonight against Woodland Hills with former Moon coach Shannon Boyle taking over for Dudas.

In his only full year at Oakland Catholic, Dudas compiled an 18-9 record and the team reached the WPIAL semifinals in addition to qualifying for the PIAA tournament.

At South Fayette, Dudas adopted a deliberate offensive system and the Lions reached the WPIAL Class AA playoffs in 2007-08. They nearly knocked off top-seed OLSH in the first round of the tournament after a victory in the preliminary round.

Trinity Opens Fall Coaching Positions

The Trinity School Board opened the positions of all fall coaches at Thursday's meeting, including that of head football coach Ed Dalton.

Dalton has been the Hillers' football coach and athletic director since the 1999-2000 school year. In football, Dalton compiled a 54-56 record and led Trinity to the WPIAL playoffs five consecutive seasons and six times overall. Trinity won two playoff games during that span.

Before Dalton arrived, Trinity played in four postseason games from 1922 through 1999.

Dalton's position as athletic director has also been opened.

Other positions opened were boys soccer, girls soccer, boys cross country, girls cross country, girls volleyball, boys golf and girls tennis.

For more details, read Saturday's Observer-Reporter.

New basketball coaches for 2009-10

Boys
Fort Cherry – Brent Fleissner
Washington – Mark Gaither (pictured)
Waynesburg – Dave Sarra


Girls
Jefferson-Morgan – Ellen Hildebrand
McGuffey – Amanda Burchett
Monessen – Gina Naccarato
Peters Township – Kyra Kaylor
Trinity – Jackie Kotchman

Alderson leaves C-H baseball

Dan Alderson, the most successful baseball coach in Chartiers-Houston High School history, had his resignation accepted by the school board Monday night.

Alderson went 133-44 in nine seasons as Bucs head coach. He spent the previous six years as an assistant with the baseball team. During his tenure as head coach, Alderson won three section titles and coached in two PIAA Class A semifinals and the 2005 WPIAL championship game at Consol Energy Park.

"Most people enjoy fishing, hunting and golfing," Alderson said Tuesday. "This was my fishing, hunting and golfing. It's something I had a passion for."

Alderson resigned to spend more time with his two daughters, Kaci (8) and Kelli (3). Alderson's wife Tricia coaches the Chartiers-Houston softball team.

For more details, read Wednesday's Observer-Reporter.

Trinity softball coach hired; West Greene opens football position

The Trinity School Board hired Bill Loar Thursday night as varsity softball coach and West Greene opted to open the head football coaching position held the past three years by Charles Harris.

Loar previously coached softball at Washington High School, where he guided the Prexies to two WPIAL Class AA championship game appearances in 2005 and 2007. Wash High also made the PIAA playoffs three times during his tenure.

A teacher at Washington and former member of the Trinity School Board, Loar replaced Linda Rebish, Trinity's highly successful softball coach. Rebish guided the Hillers to two WPIAL championship game appearance and, in 2009, Trinity was one win from playing for a PIAA championship.

Rebish retired from teaching in 2009 and expressed interest in returning as coach. She applied but was not hired by the school board.

West Greene nearly ousted Harris during the 2009 regular season but elected to keep the coach on the sidelines.In three years, the Pioneers went 3-24. Harris went 3-1 in his first four games as coach.

West Greene enters the 2010 season on a 23-game losing streak.

Price not coaching

The Observer-Reporter has confirmed that Lloyd Price is not coaching the Ringgold football team tonight as the Rams face Southmoreland in a non-conference game at Joe Montana Stadium.

As previously reported, Price was suspended for last week's 41-38 win at Albert Gallatin.

Assistant coach Matt Humbert will serve as head coach for the second consecutive week.

Kentucky coach acquitted

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former Kentucky high school football coach was found not guilty Thursday in the death of a player who collapsed at a practice where the team was put through a series of sprints on a hot summer day.
It was a rare criminal prosecution of a coach in a player’s heat-related death.
Former coach David Jason Stinson, 37, was charged after 15-year-old Max Gilpin collapsed at an August 2008 practice as the team ran a series of sprints known as “gassers.” He died three days later at a Louisville hospital of heat stroke, sepsis and multiple organ failure. His temperature reached at least 107 degrees.
The jury deliberated for less than two hours, and Stinson hugged defense attorney Brian Butler after the verdict was read.
“That’s why they came back quickly, because he was innocent,” said Butler, who characterized the prosecution as a “witch hunt.” Stinson left without speaking to reporters.
Players said he ordered the gassers as punishment for the lack of effort they showed at practice on a day where the temperature and heat index were both 94 degrees.
Prosecutors relied on a series of Gilpin’s teammates who testified that several teens became ill during the gassers, vomiting or bowing out of the running with ailments.

Ringgold football

First-year Ringgold High School football coach Lloyd Price was handed a one-game suspension by the school district for last week's game at Albert Gallatin.

The Rams picked up their first victory of the 2009 season, 41-38, thanks to a couple defensive touchdowns. Matt Humbert, an assistant coach who played football at Cal U, served as head coach for Ringgold.

According to one report, there will be an executive session at Wednesday's school board meeting to determine the status of the 26-year-old Price, who is Ringgold's athletic director, and that the football team would attend on his behalf.

Price had no comment and the Observer-Reporter was unable to confirm such action would be taken at the school board meeting.

A previous post by Ringgold Legend on the Varsity Letters stated "Lloyd Price was suspended for fighting for two of his players against the school boards will. I will not say what the kids did, but he represented them or took the stand or something for the kids and Ringgold's Administration was not happy about it."

Price became Ringgold's seventh head football coach in 11 years when he replaced Jeff Petrucci.

West Greene keeps coach

The West Greene School Board elected not to open the varsity football head coaching position held by Charles Harris by a 7-2 vote at Thursday's meeting.

Harris enters his third year as the Pioneers coach. His career record is 3-15 after an 0-9 season in 2009. West Greene competes in the Class A Tri-County South Conference and last made the WPIAL playoffs in 1995, when it reached the championship game.

Sarra coaching again at Waynesburg Central

In his first year as varsity football coach at Waynesburg High School, Dave Sarra guided the Raiders to an appearance in the 2000 WPIAL Class AA championship game. It marked Waynesburg's second consecutive appearance in the title game but, unlike the 1999 championship, that season ended with a loss to Bernard "Josh" Lay and Aliquippa at Three Rivers Stadium.

A repeat of such a feat would be nothing short of miraculous after Sarra was hired by the school district as its boys basketball coach.

Sarra compiled a 45-26 record in seven season as Raiders football coach. He previously served as varsity girls basketball coach and replaces Aaron Ankrom, a former standout player at Waynesburg. The Raiders went 7-15 a year ago and have not had a winning season since 2004-05.

• Woodland Hills is hiring Dave Krakoff as its boys basketball coach. Ringgold followers may remember the name. Krakoff was hired as athletic director and boys basketball coach in April, 2004 only to resign later that month. Krakoff has coached at West Allegheny and Pine-Richland.
  

Rhodes out at PT

Long-time Peters Township High School softball coach Bea Rhodes was informed this week that her position has been opened. Rhodes guided Peters Township to an 11-6 record in 2009 and the Indians' fourth WPIAL playoff appearance in five years.

An interesting side story to the opening is how Rhodes found out.

According to Rhodes, she along with Peters Township athletic director Rich Relich were under the impression she'd be back for the 2010 season, her 13th as Indians coach, followng Tuesday's school board meeting. On Tuesday night, Relich received an e-mail from superintendent Dr. Nina Zetty informing him that Rhodes' position had been opened.

For more on this story, read Saturday's Observer-Reporter.

Wash High to hire Gaither

Former Bethel Park and Ringgold boys basketball coach Mark Gaither was hired by the Washington School Board as the Prexies' boys basketball coach at a special meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Wash High athletic director Joe Nicolella will be his assistant.

Gaither coached three years at Ringgold, where he compiled a 27-45 record. He replaced Phil Pergola, who won a PIAA Class AAAA championship at Ringgold and is the athletic director/boys basketball coach at California High School.

Gaither spent the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons at Bethel Park, where he replaced Mike Mastroianni. The Black Hawks went 19-28 in his two years.

Gaither replaces Ron Faust, who won 520 games, four WPIAL titles and two PIAA championships at Washington. Faust retired at the end of the school year.