Apr 8, 2025 By Rob Burchianti 7 min read

Keith Jeffries righted the ship and has it sailing in the right direction.

It’ll now be up to someone else to keep Uniontown’s football team on course.

Jeffries opted to step down as the Red Raiders head football coach after guiding the team to a 15-20 record over the last four years. The program was floundering and in the midst of a 34-game losing streak, the longest in the WPIAL at the time, when Jeffries stepped in.

Uniontown, in its first season as an independent in 2021, won its second game under Jeffries to stop the skid and he has gradually built the Red Raiders up to respectability since then. The team was 4-5 this past season.

Jeffries’ resignation was expected to be approved at Monday night’s school board meeting. Assistant coaches Jeremy Brain (effective March 11) and Eric Saylor (effective March 28) have resigned as well.

“I decided it was just time,” Jeffries said. “I’m having some health concerns and I turned 50. Due to that, I don’t necessarily have the drive anymore to put all the time in. I sat down with my wife and talked and I was going to try to do a few more years, but physically I can’t do everything I want to do with it anymore either. I was trying to show a middle school kid how to get into a three-point stance and I couldn’t do it,” Jeffries said with a laugh. “That was kind of an eye-opener. My staff pretty much went with me as well so it’ll be a new regime coming in.”

Jeffries is a Uniontown graduate and former football player who also played in college at Waynesburg. Those two schools are the only ones he has coached at.

“I’ve been coaching since 1997,” Jeffries said. “Including every sports season, I had 66 seasons as a coach. That’s between football, track, baseball, softball and everything else. We were kind of joking around that at 65 you’re supposed to retire.

“I was very fortunate to have coached only at my alma maters. I coached one year in college at Waynesburg after I was done playing and then went straight to Uniontown. I would get asked once in a while by other schools, why don’t you come over and coach with us? I still believe in the rah-rah and spirit type stuff here and I just couldn’t see myself coaching anywhere else but either Uniontown or Waynesburg college.”

Jeffries, who is in the Uniontown Area High School Academics, Arts and Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2001 Uniontown football team (defensive coordinator) that won a conference championship and had an undefeated regular season, had an instant impact when he took his first head coaching job for the program.

In the 2020 covid season before Jeffries took over, Uniontown fielded a team for just two non-conference games, the fewest in the district. The Red Raiders had 21 players on their roster for the finale, a 55-0 loss to Albert Gallatin.

Uniontown won its second game under Jeffries over Carrick as the turnaround began, one of the key factors being participation.

“The one thing we talked about was player retention within the district,” Jeffries said. “I think we finished last year with about 47-48 kids. We wanted to get up to close to 50 and we accomplished that.

“We were able to play a pretty steady JV season as well. We played at least six or seven JV games each season after my first year. That was a goal also and was helpful to the program. Getting the kids out and keeping them out was a big deal for us and we met that goal.”

As an independent, the Red Raiders also were able to get more local teams on their schedule. Last season Jeffries and athletic director Harry Kaufman lined up games against fellow Fayette County schools Laurel Highlands, Connellsville, Albert Gallatin and Uniontown.

“I think that helped build things up, too,” Jeffries said. “Playing local, we got more interest, better crowds and the players were more excited going up against players they know. I think that was a big benefit for us.”

Jeffries’ determination to turn the program around stems back from his playing days.

“Being a former Uniontown player I knew of the great tradition back in the ’60s,” Jeffries said. “The early ’90s we had former players that would stop by. Coach (Bill) Power even came by. Coach (Jim) Render who I played against whenever he was at Upper St. Clair, he would even come and talk to us about the proud tradition of Uniontown.

“And I had the pleasure of working for John (Fortugna) for so many years and seeing his passion and his pride in Uniontown. Hopefully, I carried on with that the same way that he did. I’m like John, I bleed maroon and white.”

Stability was another key to getting the football team back on track.

“For the most part I was able to keep my staff together over the four years which was a big help,” Jeffries said. “I want to thank all my coaches over the past four years.”

Asked about a possible return to coaching in the future, Jeffries responded, “As of right now I would say probably not, but nothing is ever set in stone. If I get my health situated and everything is OK there, maybe somewhere down the line.

“But my wife and I were talking and figured out I haven’t had a summer off since 1988 with the exception of the covid year when just about everything was shut down. We’re looking forward to being able to travel a little bit this summer.”

Jeffries and his wife Elizabeth, who is a creative arts teacher at Uniontown, have two sons and two daughters.

“My daughter Nina is 2020 graduate of Uniontown and is a seventh grade English teacher in Spotsylvania, Virginia,” Jeffries said. “My son Jesse is a 2022 graduate and former Uniontown football player. He also played hockey at Cal U and is currently working for Consol Energy.

“My son Jack is a senior at Uniontown this year and will be going to Penn State. He’s in the running for a Naval ROTC scholarship up there. He was on the school clay shooting team this year. Academically, he was on Hometown High Q. He wants to possibly be a nuclear engineer on a submarine. My daughter Anna is the youngest. She’s a sophomore at Uniontown and is in the drama club and the band.”

Jeffries is hoping to spend more time watching and being with his kids.

“Just having a little bit of me time, family time,” he said. “I can watch my daughter perform at halftime now. I might want to go up to Penn State on a weekend and spend it with my son, maybe watch a game there.

“I’m kind of looking forward just to a little bit of freedom. It’s going to be nice to not have to go over to the school several times a week throughout the summer.”

The decision on who will succeed him will be an important one but Jeffries is confident the right man will be hired.

“We have pretty competent people between the board of directors and athletic administration,” Jeffries said. “I was asked if I would consider sitting in on interviews. I haven’t given an answer yet but I’m kind of flattered they asked me. It’s going to be interesting to see. I think it’s open now through the WPIAL until April 18, so that’s two more weeks. Harry told me there were three people that have already applied.

“I’ll be there to support whoever it is. I’m still a Red Raider at heart and always will be.”