Family man: Pritts steps down as Lady Scotties coach to spend more time with wife, kids
Brian Pritts found himself with some unexpected time off thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and it gave the Southmoreland girls basketball coach a chance to assess his life situation, more accurately, his team on the hardwood and his other “team” at home.
In the end, his family won out.
Pritts has stepped down after leading the Lady Scotties to their greatest season in program history. His resignation was officially accepted at Thursday’s school board meeting.
Southmoreland had an undefeated regular season, reached the WPIAL championship game and won a PIAA playoff game this past season, all program firsts. The Lady Scotties’ season ended at 23-2 after a loss to Lancaster Catholic in the second round of the state tournament on March 11.
The world took on drastic changes not long after.
“We went from like 100 miles an hour to a complete standstill in a matter of two days,” Pritts said. We played our last game on a Wednesday and then, with the COVID-19, everything kind of stopped at the end of our school day on Friday.
“The next week and a half I just had a lot of downtime to think about things. Being home around the family really opened my eyes.”
The 47-year-old Pritts lives in Scottdale with his wife, Kristin, and three kids, sons Brock, 10, and Bryson, 7, and daughter Braylee, 3.
“It’s a great group of girls on the team that I really enjoy coaching and being around. But, I’ve got a wonderful family here, too,” Pritts said. “I saw just how much energy my wife was putting into the family, the ‘team’ here at home.
“And, with my kids getting older and starting to get involved with a lot of things, I just thought it’s the right time to do this for them, because in the end somebody would get cheated. That’s not fair to the girls, to the team or the school, and it’s also not fair to my family.”
Pritts let his players know of his decision first via a Zoom meeting. He will continue his roles as assistant athletic director at the high school and fifth-grade teacher in the Southmoreland School District.
Pritts still enjoys coaching and would like to help out in the right situation if he’s welcome.
“It is a passion of mine and I’m going to use that passion to do as much as I can with my kids and the teams they’re involved with, if the people would like me to, and, hopefully, stay in the game at the youth level right now,” he said.
Southmoreland’s girls basketball team loses four seniors, including starters Charity Henderson, Sarah Pisula and Erika Sherbondy, and Carlie Collins, who was a key player off the bench, to graduation.
The Lady Scotties have some talent coming back, though, including Gracie Spadaro, a sophomore who was the team’s leading scorer, and Olivia Cernuto, one of the WPIAL’s best freshmen.
“I think that there’s a great nucleus there,” Pritts said. “We only have one junior, Kaitlyn Peterson, on our team and I’m hoping she sticks things out and stays with the program. The rest of team coming back is all sophomores and freshmen with some nice eighth graders moving up.
“That played a role in it, too. With where they are, whoever steps in can have a couple years with the mostly that same crew. So hopefully it’s going to be a good situation for somebody and they will come in and push the kids to get the best out of them because they have a lot of potential.”
Pritts didn’t make any recommendations for a successor.
“I let the school know if they needed me to help in any way, shape or form, I’d be more than willing,” Pritts said. “I’m a team player.
“The last thing I want, though, is anybody to come in and think I’m going to try to micro-manage. I want to support the kids and the program and whoever comes in but, by all means, I want to keep my distance at the same time because I don’t want anybody to think I’m looking over their shoulder.
“That’s not good for anybody.”
Pritts, who was named the Herald-Standard Co-Coach of the Year, didn’t close the door on someday returning to a coaching position, but for now is content to concentrate on his “team” at home.