Bethel Park football coach Jeff Metheny resigns after 25 years

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 | 1:12 PM

First it was Mt. Lebanon, then Upper St. Clair and now Bethel Park.

Three successful South Hills football programs all will have new head coaches next season after longtime Bethel Park coach Jeff Metheny resigned Tuesday. Metheny, who’d coached the Black Hawks for 25 seasons and won more than 200 games, wanted more time to watch his son play college football.

Levi Metheny is a linebacker at Albany.

“I just want to go watch my son play college ball rather than travelling at night and (arriving at) four in the morning,” Metheny said. “It’s been hard the last couple of years. I’ll go watch him and have some family time.”

Metheny, 56, said “there’s no question” he’ll coach again someday.

His career record is 205-144 in 33 seasons, including stints at Waynesburg and Hampton. His teams went 164-104 at Bethel Park with a WPIAL title in 2008.

“(Resigning) was hard,” Metheny said. “I’ve been at this school for 25 years. It’s been a good ride, a lot of great kids, a lot of support. … It’s not easy, but at least now I’ll be able to go (watch Levi), enjoy it and not worry about having to get back.”

Metheny’s departure adds to a year of change in the South Hills, where Upper St. Clair coach Jim Render retired after 40 seasons and was replaced by assistant coach Mike Junko. Mt. Lebanon hasn’t yet hired a replacement for Mike Melnyk, who resigned after seven years.

“We’ve got a really good team coming back,” Metheny said. “Hopefully, they can get somebody in there, keep some of the same (assistant coaches) that we had here and keep things rolling.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Bethel Park