Coleman out as Yellow Jackets’ football coach
By John Sacco
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
Dr. Cornelius Coleman was relieved of his duties Tuesday as Waynesburg University’s head football coach after four seasons.
Coleman succeeded Chris Smithley in the spring of 2022 but failed to produce a winning season.
He was told by University officials of his dismissal Tuesday morning. Coleman said he met with his team to deliver that news later in the day.
Coleman’s overall record at Waynesburg was 14-26 and was 13-23 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
“These last four years have been one of the most amazing opportunities that Waynesburg University, the institution as a whole, God and everybody else has afforded me,” Coleman said. “It’s been a blessing in disguise to go back to serve that institution and to try to do my best work for every young man. This program means the world to me and the notion of being able to help those young men obtain their goals, and most people, in this profession think the notion of obtaining your goals means to count the wins.
“Reaching those goals that we’re talking about is the notion of becoming better athletes, but also making sure that you’re helping young men understand that they need to chase a vocation. They need to become better individuals because one day they are going to be the leaders, husbands, fathers and individuals who are working in the local communities. To be able to go there and help serve in so many different roles, to see the GPA increase and the recruiting retention increase is important to me. Those young men mean everything to me.”
Coleman declined comment about Waynesburg’s intent to fire him since the Yellow Jackets’ game Saturday – a 35-24 win over St. Vincent.
The Yellow Jackets won their last two games after suffering four consecutive losses, including a 62-20 home loss to Geneva and 56-0 loss at Washington & Jefferson.
Sources close to the program said two other assistant coaches were dismissed as well, including defensive coordinator Dave Arnold.
Those same sources said the decision to make a coaching change was made above the athletic director’s office. The university did not issue a news release about Coleman’s dismissal.
Tim Fusina, Yellow Jackets’ athletic director, was not available for comment Tuesday night. He is Waynesburg’s head basketball coach and the Yellow Jackets hosted Penn State New Kensington.
The Yellow Jackets’ last winning season was 2014 and last PAC championship was in 2012.
Waynesburg finished 4-6 in three of Coleman’s four seasons and were 2-8 in 2023. The Yellow Jackets’ best finish in the conference was sixth place in 2022. They are currently in sixth place as the final weekend looms Saturday. Waynesburg has an open date this week.
Seniors Isaac Trout, a receiver, and Jacob Brisky, an offensive lineman, were surprised when they learned of the move.
“I was definitely surprised,” Trout said. “I think Coach Coleman is a great coach and he did nothing wrong. He tried to bring this program up.
“I don’t think there’s anything necessarily in particular. I think it’s just a mix of a lot of things like we’ve had tough schedules. We’ve had injuries, stuff like that. It’s just football.”
Brisky said Coleman’s strength is “being able to lead kids.”
“He helped me a lot personally with personal issues that I was dealing with and he was able to provide life experience to kids who weren’t living in a two-parent household. It was just sad to hear the news.”
Coleman said he would like to coach again.
“From where I took that program over in the spring of ’22 to even today – my last day – to see the growth of the competitive nature, the growth of the knowledge and the growth of just how we overcame things, was great.
“I felt we were competitive in a lot of situations but it’s tough to win games. It is hard to win games. Everybody practices. Everybody prepares and you know, unfortunately, I could not guide the young men to one of those keynote victories. We just were never able to get over the hump and that’s on me. Not being able to deliver them in that space, I take full blame for it.”