West Allegheny football coach Chris Lucas resigns after 1 season

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, January 10, 2020 | 4:01 PM

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West Allegheny is searching once again for a new football coach.

Chris Lucas, who stepped in last year and coached the Indians for one season, resigned Friday for family reasons, West A athletic director Dave McBain said. The school district will talk first with internal candidates and then interview outside options, if needed.

“It’s an awesome job for someone who wants it,” McBain said. “The foundation is here. It’s a great supportive community. We’ve got good kids. We’ve got a tradition that was established a number of years ago. We’re looking to maintain and build on that. I think it’s a great opportunity.”

West Allegheny won eight WPIAL titles under Bob Palko, who coached the team for 24 years before resigning after the 2018 season. The transition since his departure hasn’t gone as planned.

The school had hired Kim Niedbala as the program’s coach-in-waiting to work alongside Palko in 2018 and then take over last fall, but Niedbala resigned in February and later rejoined Palko at Mt. Lebanon.

Lucas, a teacher in the high school, was hired in March. He was head coach at Bishop Canevin before joining West A.

West Allegheny went 3-6 overall, 2-5 in the Allegheny Eight and missed the WPIAL playoffs last season.

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: West Allegheny