Assistant coaches also suspended at Uniontown
Assistant coaches Lisa Nesser and Scott Van Sickle joined Uniontown girls’ head basketball coach Annie Malkowiak on the sidelines Tuesday after the trio admitted to school administrators that they each consumed an alcoholic beverage while supervising the team. “All three admitted to having one drink,” said Harry “Dutch” Kaufman, president of the Uniontown Area school board. “But when it comes down to supervision of children when they were away from school, we felt something had to be done.”
Malkowiak was suspended last Friday and Nesser and Van Sickle were suspended Tuesday. The suspensions are listed as “indefinite,” but Kaufman confirmed last night that they would last through the current season. Nesser served as head coach Monday night, when the Lady Raiders improved to 9-7 with an exhibition win over visiting Latrobe.
“The suspensions were all administrative,” Kaufman said. “It didn’t have to go before the board. Our boys’ basketball coach, Rob Kezmarsky, and his staff are taking over the program for the rest of the season. Once we’re through the season, the board will meet and see what needs to be done.”
Ron Machesky, Uniontown’s superintendent of schools who made the suspensions, was unavailable for comment last night because he is taking a class at Pitt that meets on Tuesday evenings.
Malkowiak called the Herald-Standard Tuesday evening, but declined to comment on the advice of her attorney.
Kezmarsky said he and his assistant coaches would all chip in to help the girls’ program, but noted that volunteer assistant Jason Winfrey will serve as head coach for the remainder of the season.
“He’s very qualified, he’s a hard worker and he’s a Red Raider,” Kezmarsky said of Winfrey. “The rest of the staff will help out with these very fine ladies as much as we can.”
Winfrey said he doesn’t know what happened in Florida, nor does he want to know.
“The most important thing right now is to develop confidence in the kids,” Winfrey said. “I don’t know much about what happened and I don’t want to get in the midst of anything. I want us to play as a team. I want to the team to be focused.”
Winfrey’s coaching debut will be Thursday night when the Lady Raiders host Section 2-AAAA foe Canon-McMillan.
“I feel confident the girls’ team will come together and make the playoffs,” Kaufman said of a team that opened the season ranked fifth among Class AAAA teams in the WPIAL.
“I believe we can make the playoffs,” Winfrey said. “If we come out and play the way we are capable, anything’s possible.”
The alleged incident involving the suspended coaches occurred as the team prepared to return home from Orlando, Fla., where Uniontown won two of three games in the KSA Disney Classic. The team’s travel plans were delayed several hours in Florida.
Kaufman said the investigation has been concluded, although Machesky told a Pittsburgh television station earlier Tuesday that he and the district still seek a videotape of the alleged incident, apparently taken by a Hempfield High School boys’ basketball coach. Hempfield’s team participated in the Disney event, as well.
“I have not seen the tape and I know we are not in possession of it,” Kaufman said. “Other than that, all of the facts have been gathered. We hope to put all of this behind us.”