Aliquippa ousts 2-time state champion Nick Lackovich as boys basketball coach

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, May 22, 2025 | 12:24 AM

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Aliquippa boys basketball coach Nick Lackovich was holding an open gym Wednesday, unaware that the school board gathered nearby was voting him out.

Lackovich said he was told his coaching contract was not renewed despite leading the Quips to the WPIAL finals and the state semifinals this past season. The team finished 23-6 overall with a 12-0 record in section play.

“They couldn’t have been more than 50 feet from me,” Lackovich said of the board. “I had the gym open for the kids. No one even told me. I got a call from the superintendent after the board meeting. No reason given.”

Superintendent Phillip Woods and athletic director Jennifer Damico didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment Wednesday night.

Lackovich compiled a 185-41 record in eight seasons as Aliquippa’s coach. He won four WPIAL titles and two state championships, most recently winning both in 2024.

He coached the team in two stints, the first lasting three seasons from 2013-16. He resigned in 2016 while resolving legal issues and was rehired in 2020.

His teams averaged 23 wins a season.

“I’d like to know what more they could want,” he said.

Lackovich’s coaching contract was a year-to-year arrangement.

He noted, however, that he wasn’t the first successful coach let go by Aliquippa’s school board. The board in 2018 didn’t bring back longtime football coach Mike Zmijanac after 21 seasons.

“If it can happen to him, it can happen to me,” Lackovich said, adding that he’d accept the decision and move on.

“The old saying is coaches are hired to be fired,” he said. “I just wish they had a legitimate reason.”

The Quips were scheduled to start play Thursday in a Pittsburgh Basketball Club summer league. The team brings back four starters including guard Josh Pratt, who was named PIAA Class 3A Player of the Year in all-state voting earlier this month.

Aliquippa’s season ended with a 36-31 loss to South Allegheny in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals. The Quips were one win away from reaching state finals for the fourth straight year.

They’d become quite familiar with Giant Center in Hershey.

The Quips were the PIAA Class 3A runners-up to Devon Prep in 2022 and finished as Class 2A runners-up to Lancaster Mennonite in 2023. They returned to Hershey again in 2024, this time defeating Holy Cross, 74-52, in the 2A finals.

The state title was the program’s sixth all-time.

Lackovich also led Aliquippa to a state championship in 2016 and a runner-up in 2015. The Quips went 59-1 combined in those two seasons. They defeated Philadelphia’s Mastery Charter, 68-49, in the Class 2A final to complete a perfect 30-0 season in 2016.

Under Lackovich, the team celebrated WPIAL titles in 2015, ’16, ’23 and ’24. The Quips have won 14 WPIAL titles in all, a district record shared with New Castle.

A 37-35 loss to South Allegheny in this year’s WPIAL finals kept Aliquippa from breaking the tie.

The Quips drew some unwanted attention in January for an incident with Imani Christian where spectators ran onto the floor. The PIAA made Lackovich sit out one game and some players also were disciplined, but Lackovich said he was confident that situation didn’t influence the board’s decision.

Lackovich said he’d heard talk a year ago about maybe not bringing him back then, even after winning the state championship. He said the board’s decision now was unexpected but didn’t surprise him entirely.

“On Saturday I picked up three awards from the Beaver County Hall of Fame banquet,” he said. “A few days later, you’re out.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

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