Former Pine-Richland coach tapped for Mars Area head coach position
Former Pine-Richland School District head football coach Eric Kasperowicz has been selected head football coach at Mars Area School District, pending a school board vote, according to an agenda posted on the district’s website.
Kasperowicz would replace former coach Scott Heinauer, who occupied the position from 1992 until the board voted to open up the varsity head football coaching position in January. One of 33 WPIAL coaches to eclipse 200 career wins, Heinauer turned in a 203-118 record with the Planets.
Under Heinauer’s stewardship, Mars had sustained success, reaching the WPIAL playoffs 16 years in a row before a 2-8 showing last fall snapped the streak.
Heinauer is still the athletic director at Mars Area.
The district is scheduled to officially vote on the appointment of a head football coach at a school board meeting Tuesday night. The agenda indicated during the day Monday that the head coach was “TBD,” but was updated shortly before 7 p.m.
Mars Area School District superintendent Mark Gross said Kasperowicz’s name was recommended through an internal hiring committee of administrators and staff that included consultant Amy Schafer, Thiel College’s director of athletics, who was brought in to facilitate the interview process.
“He is our recommendation, and the board will have that on the agenda (Tuesday) at 7,” Gross said. “It’s now up to the board whether they are going to approve that or not, but we are recommending that they do.”
Background
Kasperowicz spent eight seasons with the Rams and led them to four WPIAL and two state titles. He compiled an 85-18 record during that stint.
In April 2021, Pine-Richland School District chose not to renew his contract, citing a pattern of “hazing and emotional and physical bullying and intimidation that arose in and around the football program,” according to a letter sent to parents in May 2021 by Pine-Richland superintendent Brian Miller.
In January, while dropping a defamation lawsuit against the district, Kasperowicz’s attorney, Joel Sansone, maintained that such allegations made against the coach are untrue.
A number of Pine-Richland football players and community members voiced their displeasure at the time over the dismissal of Kasperowicz.
Kasperowicz joined the University of Pittsburgh’s football coaching staff as a volunteer assistant in the fall of 2021.
