Apr 29, 2004 By Mike Ciarochi 4 min read

Hauger is new Laurel Highlands boys basketball coach Rick Hauger was hired Wednesday as head coach of the boys basketball team at Laurel Highlands at a special meeting of the school board.

Hauger was hired by an 8-0 vote to replace Mark John, who did not re-apply for the position he held for 21 years, since the 1982-83 season.

“It’s tough when a long-time coach steps aside,” Hauger said. “I applied for the position late in the posting period after I had been informed that Mark was not going to re-apply for the position. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Coach John. He put a lot of years into the position. The decision not to re-apply for the position must have been a very difficult one for him.

“I know how dedicated he was and still is to the athletes and to athletics at Laurel Highlands. I commend him for the years of service that he put in for this program.”

The board also filled seven other positions, including replacing Hauger as girls basketball coach, a position he held for the past 10 seasons. He compiled a 164-82 record, including five section championships, eight WPIAL playoff appearances and three PIAA playoff appearances, with the girls teams. Hauger also coached the men’s basketball team at Fayette Campus for 15 years.

Hauger’s first order of business is obvious, but quite important.

“I would think the first thing I have to do is meet with the kids in the next few days and find out a little bit more about them,” Hauger said. “I really don’t know much about them at this point. We’ll have to sort each other out a little bit and take it from there.

“We’ll have some open gyms (during the summer) where we just deal with fundamentals and try to evaluate where each player is. We’ll play some summer league games, but I’m more concerned with evaluating their strengths and weaknesses in some controlled settings.”

Hauger, who was a three-sport athlete before graduating from Laurel Highlands in 1971, said he would prefer to play in Class AAAA, but the Mustangs will compete in Class AAA at least for the next two seasons.

“The only negative aspect is that the natural rivalries – Albert Gallatin, Connellsville and Uniontown – are not section games anymore,” he said. “Obviously, we would hope to play them all in exhibition games.”

His successor as coach of the Fillies is Jerry Slampak, who served as one of Hauger’s assistant coaches.

“I’m more than pleased to see that the girls staff is basically going to be intact, so the continuity in that program will continue,” Hauger said. “That way the girls don’t have to make any major adjustments. Both Jerry and Bob (Genovese, another Hauger assistant) have plenty of experience and I’m confident they will do a good job.”

In the only other hiring that involved multiple applicants, Bill McCombie was hired as head coach of the boys and girls swim teams. McCombie replaces Ed Yauger, who did not re-apply for the position for family matters. McCombie had served as an assistant under Yauger.

John retained his job as athletic director, as did assistant athletic director Palmer Sabatine Jr., equipment manager Carmen Grego and assistant equipment manager Mike Smith Jr. Nancy Wheeler also was retained as girls volleyball coach.

All positions were filled with three-year contracts.

Hauger, who is principal at Mapletown High School, said he would begin assembling his coaching staff in the near future. The Laurel Highlands School Board must approve all hirings.

“I have some ideas, but I haven’t put much thought into that yet,” he said. “I certainly didn’t want to put the cart before the horse. It is something I will look into in short order because we need to get moving.”