The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League has made its ruling regarding the Neshannock High baseball team.
The league’s board of control voted unanimously Monday to accept the penalty the district imposed on head coach Mike Kirkwood for his involvement in scheduling what was deemed to be an unethical game against New Castle on May 3 — with one addition.
WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley said he could not release specific details of the penalty, but sources told The News that it included a two-game section suspension for Kirkwood, apologies to parents, players and the Neshannock Township School Board, and a coaches education and leadership training program.
Kirkwood apologized to parents and players two weeks ago and to the board in executive session last week. The WPIAL ruling mandates that Neshannock provide proof that Kirkwood has completed all phases of his penalty.
In addition, the WPIAL board voted to public censure Kirkwood for his actions. A censure is a judgment or resolution condemning a person for misconduct.
When contacted by The News last night, Kirkwood did not want to comment.
The WPIAL ruled last month that New Castle coach Don Runyon attempted to circumvent Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League ethics rules after he and two assistant coaches were ejected from a WPIAL Section 1-AAA game, which carries with it an automatic suspension for the next scheduled game.
In the team bus on the way home from the game, Runyon came up with a plan for the Red Hurricane to schedule a nonsection game against Neshannock the next day so that he and coaches John Mozzocio and Chuck Stone could serve their suspensions in a matchup that didn’t matter instead of one two days later at Ambridge. The ’Canes needed a win in that game to clinch a playoff spot, which they did. They later forfeited, but qualified for the playoffs nonetheless. Although Kirkwood agreed to the game against New Castle, he said that he had no knowledge of Runyon’s reason for wanting to play it.
The WPIAL swiftly imposed a penalty on New Castle that included a five-game suspension for Runyon, three-game suspensions each for Mozzocio and Stone, coaches education and leadership training programs for all three coaches and athletic director Sam Flora, public censure for Runyon and Flora, probation for the baseball team for the next school year and the edict that principal Jackie Respress or her representative must attend all New Castle baseball games, both home and away, next season.
Runyon has since resigned.
O’Malley said he was pleased that Neshannock took the initiative to impose its own penalty. The league had originally scheduled a hearing with Kirkwood and Neshannock administrators Monday, but it was canceled when the district notified the WPIAL that it had taken action to penalize Kirkwood.
“They did a nice job of taking control of the situation,” O’Malley said. “We wish more schools would respond in the manner Neshannock did. We try to put the responsibility on the schools to remedy a situation so we do not need to step in, but, unfortunately, it does not happen often enough.”
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