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Monday, February 7, 2022 | 12:05
The Pine-Richland School Board voted unanimously to hire Jon LeDonne as a football coach Monday night, giving the team a new leader with a state title already on his resume.
LeDonne, who lives in the Pine-Richland District, has gone 46-13 the past five seasons at Penn Hills, winning the WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2018. He becomes Pine-Richland’s third coach in three years, replacing Steve Campos, who quit after one season citing health issues.
Athletic director Joe Gironda said school administrators were attracted to LeDonne’s demeanor combined with his coaching experience, training and familiarity with the district.
LeDonne will earn $10,123 as a coach.
“From the first time we met him during the interview, we could tell he was special,” Gironda said. “His demeanor is so calm, but we know he won’t always be calm. He is passionate and we are delighted with that too.
Gironda said the district received about 25 applicants.
LeDonne graduated from Aliquippa with an engineering background and a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon. He and his family have resided in the Pine-Richland District for nearly a decade.
“He’s very educated, driven and motivated,” Gironda said. “He’s an interesting guy to be around and we want our student-athletes to have that opportunity as well.”
LeDonne resumes a Pine-Richland program two years away from winning a state championship. The Rams went 7-5 last season under Campos and reached the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals.
Penn Hills made the playoffs in all five of LeDonne’s seasons. His best was in 2018, when the Indians went 16-0 and celebrated the WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A titles. They finished 8-4 last season and reached the WPIAL semi-finals.
I appreciate the opportunity given to me by @PennHillsSD and look forward to the next chapter @PRSchools pic.twitter.com/lyfOIXE5o1
— Dr. Jon LeDonne (@Coach_LeDonne) February 8, 2022
LeDonne’s hire closes the door to speculation that former coach Eric Kasperowicz will return. He was ousted from his coaching job last April following a school district investigation into allegations of hazing or bullying involving the football team.
Kasperowicz denied the allegations and filed a libel suit against the district and certain administrators. However, his attorney had announced in January that Kasperowicz wanted to be considered for the job opening and was dropping the lawsuit.
Chris Harlan is an editor of the Tribune-Review. You can contact Chris by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
Keywords: Penn HillsPine-Richland
