Penn-Harris-Madison officials vow 'thorough' investigation of volleyball coach incident
MISHAWAKA — There is no timetable for the internal investigation of Penn High School volleyball coach Lisa Pawlik regarding a physical interaction with a player caught on video, according to a school district spokesperson.
Pawlik, a Hall of Fame coach who won a state title at Penn in 2010, was suspended Friday by the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. after a video surfaced in which she grabbed the hat off a Penn player during the match Tuesday, Oct. 4.
The hat, which was part of a pregame dress up day for the team, had a chin strap holding it in place. The video shows the player's head jerking backward when coach Pawlik grabbed it to remove it. The player then sat down on the bench and finished removing the hat.
"The investigation will be thorough,” PHM spokesperson Lucha Ramey said in an email response to the Tribune Monday, “so it will take as long as it needs to take.”
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Meanwhile, Penn is preparing to play this Saturday in its own 4A sectional semifinal.
Lexie Banks, Pawlik’s daughter who is in her third trimester of pregnancy, will assume head coaching responsibilities this weekend, Ramey said, and possibly longer pending the investigation should Penn advance.
Ramey said that if Banks is unable to coach this weekend, the team will move to JV coach Jordan Benner to lead the varsity.
Benner is in her fifth season as the Penn JV coach and played on Penn's state championship teams in both 2010 and 2011.
An attempt to reach coach Pawlik via text on Monday was unanswered.
Pawlik is in the fifth season of her second stint at Penn. She coached the program from 1994-2010 and then stepped down following the state title season. She entered the season with a career coaching record of 849-247 and was inducted into the ISGCA Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2014.
After playing at Ball State, Pawlik guided Penn to a state runner up finish in 2002. The 2010 team went 39-1 and won the program's first state title. The Kingsmen also won the state title in 2011 under coach Sarah Hendricks.
Pawlik is a physical education teacher at Penn High School. Banks played collegiately at both South Carolina and Western Michigan University.
Penn is 22-9 this season after defeating Marian 3-0 last Thursday night with Banks in charge. The Kingsmen went 35-2 last year, winning sectional and regional titles before a 3-2 loss to eventual state champion McCutcheon in the semistate.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Penn-Harris-Madison vows 'thorough investigation of volleyball coach
