Pine-Richland hires former college assistant, top WPIAL scorer as boys basketball coach

By: Chris Harlan
Tuesday, April 22, 2025 | 1:47 PM

Steve McNees, a former college assistant who ranks among the WPIAL’s all-time leading scorers, was hired Monday as Pine-Richland’s boys basketball coach.

McNees, a 2006 Shenango graduate, scored 2,192 points in his high school career and played college basketball at Akron under Keith Dambrot. McNees later served as an assistant for Dambrot at Akron and Duquesne.

At Pine-Richland, he replaces coach Bob Petcash, who resigned after five seasons.

McNees was a four-year letterwinner for Dambrot at Akron and broke the school record for games played, appearing in 141 of 142 possible games. The Zips won the Mid-American Conference tournament twice in his four seasons. His Zips teams appeared twice in the NCAA Tournament (2009, 2011), once in the NIT (2008) and once in the CBI (2010).

McNees held the title of Director of Basketball Operations at both Akron and Duquesne.

In high school, McNees averaged 28.4 points, 8.0 assists and 6.9 rebounds as a senior. He was named to the Trib’s Terrific 10 in 2006. The point guard set school records for career assists (824) and steals (233). McNees’ career point total is tied for 27th overall among all WPIAL scorers.

His father, Bill, won more than 300 games as Shenango’s coach.

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.

Tags: Pine-Richland, Shenango