Pine-Richland High School fired Eric Kasperowicz after eight seasons as football coach. He won two state championships and four WPIAL titles, including one of each this past season. Kasperowicz was 85-18. He’s beloved by his players and known for his professionalism. Plenty of Kasperowicz’s players got football scholarships.

Kasperowicz wasn’t dismissed for anything related to coaching acumen.

So why was Kasperowicz canned?

Pine-Richland administration won’t comment on personnel matters.

But by interviewing players about alleged hazing and bullying, that leaked as a possible cause. However, several players have said that hazing and bullying did not occur. Kasperowicz also denies. If there was hazing and bullying, why aren’t the police involved? (Snapping a towel is not “hazing and bullying.” That’s kids being kids.)

So more than “no comment” seems required from the school district.

No one so much as whispered a bad word about Kasperowicz prior to his termination. That dates back to his days as a state championship-winning quarterback at North Hills High School in 1993 and his tenure as a safety at Pitt afterward.

There is nothing dark about Kasperowicz. His record and reputation are pristine.

So what’s the smoking gun? What incident(s) pushed Pine-Richland to make a decision that flies in the face of all logic, and that Pine-Richland’s players are virulently against?

“No comment” just doesn’t work. It stinks like horse excrement. This decision demands total transparency. We need to know more.

We’ve heard about the alleged hazing and bullying. But other stories are out there, too.

Is Pine-Richland Superintendent Brian Miller jealous of Kasperowicz’s status? Do some in the district want academics to matter more than athletics? (Good luck with that. It’s high school football. This is Western Pennsylvania.) Did somebody’s kid not play enough?

Perhaps all of the above is true. We’ve seen this movie too many times.

It’s clear that those deciding are spineless. “No comment” confirms. Kasperowicz and his entire staff being fired by email confirms further.

High school football is very important to the Pittsburgh area. It’s real. It’s honest. The players care, the coaches care, the students care, and the community cares. There’s nothing like high school football on a crisp Friday night in Western Pennsylvania.

But high school football has been kidnapped by parents, booster clubs, school boards and superintendents. The interference is constant.

If you coached high school football 10 years ago and still are, that doesn’t tell me you’re good at it. It’s more likely you’re adept at politicking, appeasing and kissing the right backsides.

Why would anybody even want to coach high school football? It’s so toxic. Look at what happened to Kasperowicz. Mike Zmijanac got forced out at Aliquippa in 2018 after winning six WPIAL crowns and one state title in 21 years. Upper St. Clair’s Jim Render and North Hills’ Jack McCurry are two retired coaching legends, among the very best in WPIAL history. But each had to fight for his job when disgruntled parents wielded some clout.

Several Pine-Richland players have vented on Twitter. Luke Miller, a senior linebacker on this past season’s team, supported Kasperowicz on my radio show Thursday.

But it’s tough for kids to take a united stand against adults. Jimmy Chitwood won’t show up at the town meeting to say, “I play, Coach stays. He goes, I go.” (But it wouldn’t be shocking to see a few key athletes transfer. Perhaps to Terhune, or to Central Catholic.)

Kasperowicz’s firing seems a done deal. Similar absurdities will occur at other schools. It won’t ever stop.

So here’s some generic advice to all parents of high school athletes: Your kid stinks and will not compete at a significant level beyond high school sports.

That can be said generically because 95% of the time it’s true. You may think your child will play NCAA Division I, or professionally, but it almost never happens. But when the proper opportunity is perceived as not being provided, the coach gets blamed — even though no high school coach has ever ignored a potential pro or a likely D-I athlete.

Those kids are special and impossible to miss. Your kid isn’t good enough.

Eric Kasperowicz was more than good enough. He was brilliant. Pine-Richland fired him anyway, and for no good reason. For shame.

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