Pine-Richland holding special meeting tonight to hire new head football coach
Jun. 2—The Pine-Richland School Board is poised to hire a veteran coach it hopes can close the book on a tumultuous chapter in the district's football program.
Steve Campos, an assistant football coach at Seneca Valley with nearly 30 years of experience, is the only candidate for the head coaching position who is named on the agenda for the school board's special meeting at 6 tonight to replace ousted head coach Eric Kasperowicz.
The meeting is being held in the high school auditorium instead of the board room. People attending must sign up in advance and will be required to wear masks. A recording of the meeting will be posted on the district website, but the meeting will not be livestreamed.
Kasperowicz's contract was not renewed after an investigation by district officials into allegations of "hazing, 'rites of passage' and intimidation" linked to the football team.
If the board ratifies Campos' hiring, he will be paid $10,092 for a one-year contract.
The district posted details about its decision to consider Campos, noting that he has designed and implemented comprehensive, year-round programs for football that include offseason conditioning as well as preseason technical development and field work.
He also has a wide range of connections to post-high school recruiters along with a "wide range of experiences (that) have strengthened his ability to work with student-athletes."
Campos is a native of New Brighton, Beaver County, and has an extensive coaching resume but little experience as a head coach at the high school level.
Among his jobs, Campos was head coach at Bethany College from 1992-2002 and went 40-47 in nine seasons. He also coached at Memphis State, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Geneva, University of Texas at El Paso, Marietta, Washington & Jefferson, Robert Morris and California University of Pennsylvania.
He had a one-year stint in 2006 as the football coach at Ringgold while also working as the athletic director. Most recently, he worked with Seneca Valley's quarterbacks for several seasons.
Campos is a 1982 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and earned a master's degree in education from Memphis State in 1984. He taught at Marietta and Bethany colleges between 1991 and 1992.
Campos takes over a Pine-Richland team that won WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A titles last season.
But he also is inheriting a program that's in the midst of turmoil.
Kasperowicz has denied hazing or bullying occurred during his eight seasons as Pine-Richland head coach. On May 14, he announced that he was suing the school district for defamation.
The Rams went 85-18 under Kasperowicz, winning four WPIAL titles and two state championships.
The ouster of Kasperowicz and his coaching staff led to several organized protests by students and community members.
Tony LaRussa is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tony at 724-772-6368, tlarussa@triblive.com or via Twitter .
