Uniontown hires Kezmarsky, drops to Class AAA
Rob Kezmarsky was hired as head coach of the Uniontown boys’ basketball team by an 8-1 vote of the school board Tuesday night. The board also decided not to “play up” to Class AAAA, meaning Kezmarsky’s Red Raiders will compete in Class AAA for the next two seasons. Kezmarsky, who served as an assistant coach to Dave Shuck during Uniontown’s 30-2 season, teaches in the school district. He was head coach at Albert Gallatin and compiled a 21-51 record there in three seasons (1998-2000). He was an assistant coach at Laurel Highlands in 2001.
“When you’re named head coach at a school like Uniontown, which has the greatest tradition in the WPIAL, it’s quite an honor,” Kezmarsky said. “To know I’ll be sitting on the same bench as Abe Everhart, Lash Nesser and also coach Shuck, it’s a great accomplishment. I’m very excited to start working.”
The board’s action came moments after it publicly acknowledged Shuck, who retired from coaching after leading the Red Raiders to the PIAA Class AAAA championship game for the second time in three seasons. Shuck’s team won the WPIAL championship in his last season. The board also voted to open Shuck’s position before hiring Kezmarsky.
Director Nancy Herring cast the dissenting vote and declined to comment afterward.
“Rob comes here with three years of head coaching experience,” Board President Harry Kaufman said of Kezmarsky. “We looked inside and Rob was interested.
“I’m sure he will be giving the Uniontown school district 12 months of basketball, not just at the high school, but also at the junior high and elementary levels. The board felt that we had an extremely qualified candidate in our midst. That’s why the vote was 8-1 to hire him.”
Kezmarsky is a 1990 graduate of Laurel Highlands High School, where he scored 1,522 points and set a WPIAL record for consecutive free throws made (54) that still stands.
He inherits a team that will be short on experience, but he believes it is a group of kids who learned from Uniontown’s eight graduating seniors. Kezmarsky’s only returning player with significant varsity experience is junior Brandon Duncan.
“Practicing against the varsity team, to go up against those types of players all year and through the state playoffs was great experience for the younger kids,” Kezmarsky said. “Now we’re getting ready for undergrads, working in the weight room and getting ready for summer leagues.
“There are good kids here. Also, I want to get to know a lot of the kids, from elementary on up.”
Also, the board took no action to “play up” to Class AAAA next season, meaning Uniontown will compete in Class AAA for the next two seasons. The WPIAL Board of Control will announce its basketball section alignments for the next two seasons at a meeting on Thursday, April 25.
“I still believe that, in education, you give the kids every opportunity to succeed,” Kaufman said. “That’s why we’re playing where we are supposed to be, to give our team a fair chance to compete.”
Uniontown always has competed in the highest level of competition in boys’ basketball and “played up” to Class AAAA the last two seasons. The PIAA cutoff for Class AAAA is 431 and Uniontown’s male enrollment in the top four grades is 430.
Next season will mark the first time Laurel Highlands and Uniontown will not compete in the same section in boys’ basketball. Uniontown holds a 45-33 lead in the 78-game history of the cross-town rivalry. The Mustangs were 5-1 against the Red Raiders when Kezmarsky played for LH.