McKeesport football coach resigns; Smith hired

The school board voted to accept his resignation during a special meeting Wednesday and hired Tom Smith as the head high school football coach.

The McKeesport Area School Board accepted the resignation of the high school’s head football coach after days of controversy and online discourse.

Matt Miller resigned as head football coach at McKeesport. Mike Darnay / MVI Sports

During a brief special meeting Wednesday, the school board accepted Matt Miller’s resignation and quickly hired his replacement.

Board directors Arla Payne, Diane Elias, Mark Holtzman Sr., Matthew Holtzman and Kevin Kovach voted to hire Tom Smith as the new varsity head football coach.

Board Director David Donato voted against all personnel items, including the acceptance of Miller’s resignation and the hiring of Smith. Directors Matthew Keller and David Seropian voted yes on all personnel items, including hiring Smith, but voted against Miller’s resignation due to the recommendation of “legal counsel.”

Director Jason Pavlecic abstained from voting at all.

Discussions surrounding the high school football staff in the McKeesport Area School District started after Matthew Holtzman made a statement during a regular meeting June 10, asking for all of the football coaching staff to resign.

Holtzman’s statement was prompted after some individuals involved in the football program testified in the murder trial of Isaac Smith, who was sentenced to two life sentences in late May for the murder of Karli Short and her unborn child on Sept. 13, 2021. Karli Short is the daughter of Brandon Short, a 1994 state champion at McKeesport who played seven years in the NFL.

Smith allegedly belonged to the controversial Church of Life in Christ in McKeesport, which is led by Guy Miller — Matt Miller’s father. Brandon Short said two McKeesport football assistants who testified as character witnesses on Smith’s behalf belong to the church.

“I want to acknowledge a recent event involving one of our alumni, widely regarded as one of the most accomplished athletes ever produced by the City of McKeesport and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who has gone on to become a highly accomplished business executive and leader,” Matthew Holtzman said. “His success has brought pride to this community and serves as a testament to what can be achieved through hard work, dedication, leadership, and perseverance.

“It deeply saddened me to learn that he was betrayed by a former teammate and members of the football program that he won a championship for and helped make famous across the country.”

During Wednesday’s special meeting, Mark Holtzman Sr. read a statement from Brandon Short.

“My daughter Karli was 26 years old, five months pregnant with her first child, when she was murdered,” Mark Holtzman Sr. read. “During the trial of Isaac Smith, the man convicted of murdering my daughter Karli and her unborn child, two individuals connected to the McKeesport High School football program, Josh Lefcowitz and Joe Smith, testified as character witnesses for the convict.

“Both men chose on their own to bring up their roles with the football program, while building the credibility on the stand, a program I love, a program I gave everything to as a player, felt like it showed up in support of the man who killed my daughter. I did not believe it was possible, but this stark reality made the most difficult thing that I’ve ever experienced even worse.”

Brandon Short said his main issue was the silence that came from the football team regarding the incident.

“I want to be clear about what my issue is, because this isn’t about punishing anyone for their faith or their association,” Brandon Short said in his statement. “What concerns me is the silence since. The McKeesport head coach has made statements regarding the school board’s vote and other points, but has said nothing about the underlying issue, the murder of a young woman and her child.

“The head coach could have easily made a statement or reached out to me personally and said, ‘Sorry for your loss, those men’s views do not represent the views of McKeesport football, and McKeesport football does not support a convicted murderer.’

“No statement of condolence, no effort to separate the program from what these two men said on that stand. When the head coach doesn’t speak, the silence gets filled, and right now it reads like the program stood with my daughter’s killer instead of with her.”

Since the start of the controversy, Miller’s, Lefcowitz’s and Joe Smith’s alleged affiliation with the McKeesport Church of Life in Christ has been raised as a concern.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Donato said that their legal counsel had shared concerns about the grounds of the resignation. Donato also stated that he had concerns about the resignation being due to religious reasons.

“It has been explained to the board by the legal department that there is no grounds to accept that resignation unless it occurs at a public meeting,” Donato said. “That resignation did not occur at a public meeting, and the legal department cited cases in which this idea has been refuted, so they’re on the record of saying that there is no such thing as resignation unless it’s presented to this board.

“Not only that, what I’m very concerned about is that this resignation is materializing with the board because of religious reasons, and we all took an oath of office in which we swore to uphold the Constitution, and one of the main tenets of that Constitution is the fact that we cannot blame a person for a church that he belongs to or who he’s affiliated with.”

Matthew Holtzman went on to say that the resignation had been submitted to the district athletic director the day after the board’s June 10 meeting. District Solicitor Gary Matta confirmed that Matt Miller’s resignation was received the morning of June 11.

Matta stated that there was a recommendation made to board members, but stated that “attorney-client privilege” applied and that he had not been advised by the board as a whole that he could disclose that information.

Towards the end of Wednesday’s meeting, Matthew Holtzman, Donato and Mark Holtzman Sr. got into a heated argument over Matt Miller’s resignation. Matthew Holtzman said that he and other board members had previously expressed concerns about Matt Miller.

“I did not want the coach to come back. I wanted the job open,” Mark Holtzman Sr. said. “I said it then, and I’m going to say it now. Under no circumstances, and I take offense to it, Dave Donato, that this is over religious situation.”

After the meeting, Mark Holtzman Sr. told the Mon Valley Independent that he had previously advocated to open up the position to try something new for the district.

“My opinion, that I felt, is I think we could do better as a team,” Mark Holtzman Sr. said. “I think he’s a great guy, but there’s a lot of great guys, and there’s a lot of great coaches, and I just think it was time. After 10 years, I believe it’s time for a change, that’s my opinion.”

TribLive contributed to this article.