George Guido: Pa. needs to adopt Virginia method for hiring/firing high school coaches

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, February 27, 2018 | 10:48 PM

High school football still is reverberating over last week's firing of Aliquippa football coach Mike Zmijanac.

The Aliquippa school board last week voted 7-2 not to bring back the coach who has led the program to 237 victories and 10 consecutive WPIAL title game appearances. Zmijanac is 13th on the WPIAL's all-time coaching victories list, passing Kiski Area's Dick Dilts with 234 late last season.

The circumstances surrounding Zmijanac's dismissal are yet another reason for Pennsylvania to adopt the procedures Virginia uses for hiring athletic coaches.

In Virginia, the principal and the athletic director appoint a coach. The school board then ratifies the appointment, much like a Senate would approve a presidential and gubernatorial appointment of a cabinet member.

The controversy at Aliquippa — and other school districts in the past — could have been avoided by using this procedure.

Coaches with a stellar record like Zmijanac's have proven to be just as easy a target for school boards as coaches with poor records.

Recent controversies have surrounded some of the area's most successful coaches: Jack McCurry at North Hills, Neil Gordon at Penn Hills and Tim McConnell at Chartiers Valley.

Not even Jim Render, the winningest football coach in WPIAL history, has avoided moves to be fired.

I've talked to athletic officials from Virginia in doing research for previous columns. Those officials said there are procedures for firing a coach for malfeasance or other issues.

It also allows school boards to concentrate on educational issues.

What a concept!

Coaches have said their jobs depend on getting five school board votes to be maintained, no matter what the won-loss record is. No coach seems immune from community members who are unhappy with their children's playing time or other peripheral issues.

The situation at Aliquippa has played out in other school districts. Time was when school boards were made up of public service-minded people instead of those with an axe to grind.

For instance, when New Kensington had its own school district, many board members were executives from ALCOA who just wanted to give back to their communities as a thanks for their professional success. Same with Ford City and PPG.

Thankfully, there still are school board members who think of their communities first.

Let's just hope Pennsylvania changes coach-hiring procedures some day and the community-minded people can overshadow those who serve for nefarious reasons.

Mikayla watch

Leechburg standout Mikayla Lovelace will continue her career next week when the PIAA basketball playoffs begin.

The Blue Devils qualified for the state playoffs by virtue of Chartiers-Houston's victory over Brentwood on Monday night.

Lovelace scored 22 points in Leechburg's loss to Chartiers Houston last Thursday.

That gave her 2,028 for her career. During the game, she passed Greensburg Salem's Danielle Dawson (2,018) and Ford City's Kelly Morda (2,020) on the all-time WPIAL list.

Lovelace's next target is Kameico Robinson of Clairton, who finished with 2,031 points.

If Chartiers-Houston beats Vincentian for the WPIAL title Thursday, Leechburg will play March 9 against the winner of District 9 somewhere in the Clarion-DuBois area.

If the Bucs lose to Vincentian, Leechburg will head to District 10 in the state's northwestern corner.

George Guido is a Valley News dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears Wednesdays.