WG seeks football coach; Kreuzer hopes to be rehired
Paul Kreuzer envisioned his tenure as West Greene’s head football coach being lengthy. A 1986 graduate of the school, Kreuzer set a goal to return the Pioneers to the WPIAL playoffs and change the culture surrounding the program.
After just two seasons, Kreuzer was told his plan might be cut short.
Three weeks ago, the West Greene School Board decided to open the varsity head football coaching job, but invited Kreuzer to reapply.
After back-to-back 1-8 seasons, which included injuries to the Pioneers’ starting tailbacks in both years, Kreuzer is searching for answers.
“I said from the beginning that it was going to take a while to change the culture,” Kreuzer said. “Consistency is what will stabilize it. I’m from that school and I know that. Finally getting people to buy into the system, it’s tough.”
The move was not a procedural one. Athletic director Billy Simms evaluated Kreuzer following the season and recommended to the board that opening the job was the best course of action.
“After going 1-8 and 1-8 and having a season finish with 12 kids, you might want to possibly see if there is something you can make a move with,” Simms said. “We didn’t have to open it, but we wanted to see if there is a better candidate out there.”
West Greene’s lone victory in 2014 came Sept. 19 against Serra Catholic in a four-overtime thriller than ended with a 44-43 Pioneers win. One week later, the Pioneers were decimated by injuries during a loss to Beth-Center.
During midseason, Kreuzer had to recruit athletes in the high school to join the team. He found two who had never played a snap of football.
Though Kreuzer had just 12 healthy players, West Greene narrowly lost to Carmichaels one week later, 22-19. The Pioneers finished last in WPIAL’s Class A Tri-County South Conference and scored just 92 points – the fewest in Class A.
Adversity dotted the Washington & Jefferson graduate’s tenure, but Kreuzer knew it would be a rebuilding project, not a renovation. He was a member of the 1985 West Greene team that captured the program’s first winning season since 1979, but narrowly missed the playoffs.
He went on to play defensive end for Washington & Jefferson for two seasons under coach John Luckhardt before embarking on a coaching career. Kreuzer was an assistant at Waynesburg under coach Scott Orndoff and a junior high coach under Dave Sarra.
He spent four seasons as an assistant at West Greene under Larry Piper and was the junior high coach for the Pioneers for five seasons before being hired as the varsity head coach in 2013.
Kreuzer inherited a program that had not reached the WPIAL playoffs since 1993 and rarely developed athletes to play at the next level. In his first year, the Pioneers had two players receive that opportunity – Trevin Bedilion (Waynesburg) and Dalton Wildman (W&J). Three players from the class of 2015 are expected to join them.
Simms hopes to have a decision made following the holiday break and is unaware how many candidates have applied for the post, which has been advertised in local newspapers. All Kreuzer can do is “wait and pray” that he gets a chance to finish what he started.
“It’s a tough situation. Is my heart broken? Absolutely,” Kreuzer said. “I know the kids there support me. They enjoyed playing for me. We’ll just have to see.”