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Tyrone looking for new head coach

Franco could be a candidate

TYRONE — Jason Wilson’s five-year tenure as the head coach of the Tyrone Area High School football team has come to an end.

The school board voted 7-1 to open the varsity football coach position for the 2019 season.

“I do not plan to reapply, and I’m not sure right now if I would work for another coach at Tyrone,” Wilson said. “I may apply for other open positions if they present themselves, depending on what career path I want to stay on.

“I may even take a year off since I’ve been coaching right out of high school. Obviously, I’d like to be the head coach at my alma mater, but I feel I still have a long career ahead of me if I have an opportunity elsewhere.”

James Raabe cast the single no vote and after the meeting declined further comment. Raabe is the only board member with a child on the current football team. William Lash did not vote because he was absent.

Board members voting to open the position were: Board President James Crawford, Vice President Brian Bressler, Mollie Bakhsheshe, Rose Black, David Fusco, William Hartsock and Randy Miles.

The vote taken Tuesday night in the high school administration building was the culmination of a board recommendation to its committee for student activities. That committee is chaired by Bressler.

Wilson’s five-year record at Tyrone was 33-25 and included a District 6 championship in his first season, but Bressler said the decision was not based on Wilson’s record. Tyrone won its first four games this past season before losing the final six and missing the playoffs for the first time since 1994.

“We don’t look at the record,” Bressler said. “That’s not important to us. … And I don’t think the kids could have had a coach they liked better. I can’t give you a specific answer (to the reason why). There were a couple of things that didn’t happen that we hoped would happen.”

Bressler said Wilson’s coaching evaluation had some negatives “on the administrative side of the job. … And I think Jason realized that.”

Before he became head coach, Wilson was Tyrone’s defensive coordinator since 2009 under John Franco and Steve Guthoff, who succeeded Franco in 2012 and was the Tyrone head coach for two years. Wilson played for Franco from 2001-2004 before graduating from Tyrone and attending York Technical Institute.

“It’s been tough to get a consistent staff, but I thank everyone that has helped me along the way,” Wilson said. “It’s a difficult job, and I truly think we just could never win over a split community since the beginning to get full buy-in by everyone.”

Bressler said he has not been in contact with any potential candidates to fill the position but said “there’s always talk about people we think would be interested.” He didn’t rule out Franco from that list.

“We need to see who applies.”

Franco did not return a call from the Mirror to his cell phone, but his wife, Sue, told the Mirror when reached by his home phone number at 10 p.m. that he was unavailable because he was in a meeting with someone from Tyrone.

Penn Cambria athletic director Chuck Terek told the Mirror at 10:30 p.m. he was still under the impression that Franco was the school’s football coach and that Franco had been in the school’s weight room the day before.

Wilson, who turned 33 in October, said the Tyrone program is in good shape.

“The future should be good. One of the most talented classes in recent years is coming up through,” Wilson said. “They’ve been successful in junior high and at the JV level.”

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