Feb 9, 2025 By John Sacco 3 min read

Coming off two consecutive WPIAL Class 2A playoff appearances and having revived a struggling program, Waynesburg Central High School head football coach Aaron Giorgi was ousted Tuesday night by the district’s school board by a vote of 6-2.

Board members who voted to open the position were James Howard, president, Wayne Knisely, Chase Shaffer, Lee Robinson, Wade Cowell and Lanfer Simpson. Voting to retain Giorgi were Erin Blanchard and Chay Lahew. Board member Jay Riggenbach was absent.

Contacted late Wednesday afternoon, Howard would only say: “(It’s) just a change.”

According to sources close to the situation, the board motioned to open Giorgi’s job in December but voted to retain him by a 5-4 vote.

“I was never informed prior to this board meeting (Tuesday) that the job would be opened up nor given a reason why it was being opened,” said the 40-year-old Giorgi, who was head coach for four seasons at Waynesburg.

“There were some questions throughout November that I was asked to come and speak to the school board about. The questions were about the health of the program.”

Chris Minerd, Waynesburg’s athletic director, said it was the board’s decision and that he had no other comment.

When Giorgi took over in 2021, Waynesburg’s recent history had been marked with tough times. The Raiders broke a 24-game conference losing streak in 2021. They went a little more than four years without winning a conference game prior to that. In all, Waynesburg had lost 45 of its last 48 conference games and 53 of 60 games overall.

Giorgi led the Raiders back to the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs in 2023, its first time in the postseason since 2014.

Waynesburg went 7-4 in 2023 and lost to Imani Christian in the opening round of the playoffs. The Raiders’ four wins to open that season was the first time the program was 4-0 in 23 years.

Giorgi was voted the Century Conference Coach of the Year that season.

This past season, Waynesburg finished tied for second place in the Century Conference, going 4-2 in conference play and 6-5 overall.

The Raiders defeated Washington, 21-13, their first win over the Little Prexies and first win at Wash High Stadium since a 20-6 victory in 2008.

Waynesburg lost to South Allegheny in the opening round of the WPIAL playoffs.

Before becoming Waynesburg’s head coach, Giorgi coached at Jefferson-Morgan for nine seasons – six as head coach – and was an assistant at Carmichaels for five seasons under Mike Bosnic and John Menhart.

“I’m very proud of where the program has gone over the past few years,” Giorgi said. “I’m proud and I’m very fortunate to have coached at Waynesburg and it’s been a tremendous climb from where we started to where we finished at the end of our four-year period.

“As a staff, I feel like we taught these boys to learn how to win and play the game right. To accomplish our goals of making the playoffs, these boys set the standard that Waynesburg will always be in the playoffs. We had some rocky roads to start the first couple years. With back-to-back seasons in the playoffs, I feel very accomplished and good about the health of the program.”

Waynesburg makes two head coaching positions that are open in the area. The other is at Beth-Center.