Monday, March 26, 2012

Fort Cherry hires Shiel

One football coaching search came to an end Monday night, and it officially brought an end to an era in Fort Cherry football.

Jim Shiel was hired as Fort Cherry's new football coach at Monday night's school board meeting.

Shiel is an 1981 graduate of Fort Cherry and played football for the Rangers under the direction of legendary head coach Jim Garry. One of the longest-tenured coaches in PIAA history, Garry coached Fort Cherry for Fort Cherry football for its first 43 years and won a Washington County-record 265 games. He was succeeded in 2003 by Tim Garry, his son. He coached the past 9 seasons and went 49-42.

A physical education teacher at Fort Cherry, the 49-year-old Shiel coached the 7th & 8th grade team last fall.

Trinity and Jefferson-Morgan have yet to fill their respective positions. Trinity is down to three finalists and expected to hire April 5. Jefferson-Morgan opened its application process once again last week.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really? This guy has ben a junior high coach for how many years? What are his qualifications, the best you can write about is a 7th/8th grade coach? Sounds to me like a BAD hire. If I lived in McDonald, I would be very upset......Who else was in the running?

I heard Peters Twp HFC coach was looking into this position.....

Anonymous said...

Good Hire...in the district, played for Jim Garry, coached under
Tim Garry, knows the kids, kids like him, knows the tradition, GOOD MAN.....

Anonymous said...

I don't understand what the school board was thinking. The team needs a new outlook on coaching and discipline. This could have been accomplished by hiring someone from outside the district!

There is a total lack of respect for the coaching staff from the boys on the team.

The coaches let the "super stars" get away with everything and the boys who participate every day and try their best get pushed to the side.

Anonymous said...

Who got away with anything? They Had 3 kids that made all state last year,2 are on the National Honor Society,all 3 are on the honor roll and all are great kids.Congrats to you and your kid for "participating"but sorry some kids deserve to play more than others.You'll have to find something else to cry about.

mike_kovak said...

Interviewed Shiel and FC AD/assistant principal Robert Motte tonight.

There will be more on the hire in Wednesday's paper.

Also talked with a couple random FC people this evening, and both were in favor of the hire.

Anonymous said...

This hire was as political as it comes. One of the board members, Brant Miller, and his dad, Ray Miller, have been involved in football on every level from youth to collegiate for over 80 years combined. I understand Brant was very excited about a young black coach from outside of the district who works with troubled youth, but because the new board members don't like Brant, or for some other reason only known to them, they discarded his opinion and voted for Shiel. I further understand that Brant's pick was also the unanimous recommendation by the committee that did the bulk of the interviewing, not Shiel as Motte suggested. What is going on with these new school board members and what have they done to the future of FC football?

Anonymous said...

Brant Miller is the committee. So, you think one person should make the choice? The new board members ask questions, evaluate information and try to make INFORMED decisions. Nine opinions versus one is how it is supposed to work......

Anonymous said...

Brant was one member out of 4-5 that did the in-depth interviews. You know the stuff that the ladies on the board confessed to not knowing anything about. They then went against the overwhelming recommendation of the committee to bring in somebody new and to change the culture up at FC. The ladies felt it was more important to have a coach in the building to have a great program just like the one Tim Garry had and Bob Miles had and Carl Yanek had ....wait a minute...none of them are in the building either. Then just maybe it was because of something else hidden in their minds because the word on the street was that the committee's pick was a better choice. I sure hope Coach Shiel will do a good job. As far as the new board members making informed decisions. That all depends on who is informing them. It's clear to the public that the new board members and one old one are taking their cues from a small group of people in the audience. Heck, one even changed her vote twice at roll call after seeing how her friends voted. They are not fooling anyone just making fools of themselves. Keep it up.

Anonymous said...

Jim Shiel is as qualified as anyone in the process. The Penn Hills guy got fired. Must be something there... Jim Shiel is an FC grad, teacher, and resident. ISNT GOING ANYWHERE unlike most of FC's other recent hires outside of district. (see boys bball and girls volleyball).
If anything, the "lack of respect for old staff" came from NONE OF THEM being teachers in the building and having no idea what the kids did in school, how they carried themselves or acted over the years. Having a coach who also interacts with you on a DAILY basis is very important.

Shiel is an FC guy, has Varsity coaching experience on both sides of the ball, has a successful 0 or 1 loss program in the junior high EVERY year, and above all else, WILL CARE about these young men and help them grow. He won't bail for a better paying job in a year or two. No stepping stone here, unlike some other "questionable" recent hires. And "future of FC football?" It can't be any worse than underachieving teams (2011 aside) of the last decade plus.

Great hire FC board. The community and students definitely support it!

Anonymous said...

Just to be correct, the Penn Hills guy did not get fired. The HFC resigned, and he chose to not return (driving distance, etc)

The Penn Hills guy is also from South Fayette, and at one time was a wrestling coach at FC. Would have been a fantastic hire.

K Garry said...

I was a member of the staff for many years and where on earth did you come up with the lack of respect argument.No I don't teach in the school but probably spent as much time with the kids as the teachers do,plus we all lived here.We should'nt have to teach respect anyway,that should have been taught at home.I except for a few incidents never had a problem with kids and lack of respect.These were great kids and I love all of em,from the writings on here you'd think the program was in disarray and no we did'nt win a wpial championship but it was'nt for lack of work we put everything we had into it but unfortunately met a couple better teams

Anonymous said...

The bottom line is: they hired an FC guy who was born and bred here, knows the kids, families and staff and most importantly tradition of the program. Small schools rarely do well bringing in outsiders with large school backgrounds in coaching. They often move on in a few short years when they see that the atmosphere, budget, #s of athletes, other variables are not worth the pay they are getting. Jim Shiel will devote his life and career to the program.

Anonymous said...

I wish the new coach luck and just want to point out that he did nothing wrong.Please don't attack him as he did'nt hire himself.It does seem very odd to me though that the board formed a hiring committee that had on it a college level referee,a former college football player,a former coach that's now an A.D.,and a youth coach.They did all the interviews and vetting came back with a recommendation and it was totally disregarded by the gang of 5.So people that never interviewed anybody that know nothing about football and have nothing invested in the program went off on their own a picked a coach.Nothing at all against coach Sheil but that is as dirty as it comes.I wonder if the blog will do an investigation on this?I'd bet not.

Anonymous said...

As a former FC player, I can tell you that it is embarassing that the varsity job would be given to a Jr. High coach. Jim is a nice guy...but a varsity head football coach he is not. If he was such a "genius", coach Jim Garry or Tim Garry would have had him up on the varsity years ago. When was the last time Shiel supposedly coordinated anything at the varsity level??? A long, long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away. And I never saw him on the varsity practice field 1 time during my high school career. Not 1 time...summer practices, summer camp, playoff practices...never! He was never around. I would think Jr. High coaches like Shiel are supposed to come to varsity functions whenever they can...if nothing else but to be with the kids that he supposedly believes so much in and cares about. And calling plays against a midget coach at Avella is a lot different than calling plays vs. Canevin, Clairton, Monessen, Charties Houston, and Brentwood. Jim is a Jr. High coach...no disrespect to him...that's just what he is. He better hope he hires a seasoned varsity staff or that program could disappear from the radar. And from what I hear, he's not getting much. Sad.

mike_kovak said...

"I wonder if the blog will do an investigation on this?I'd bet not."

We have a winner.

Anonymous said...

Not your blog Kovak. The FC Blog started by Chris Lauff and other board members that try to point the finger at some current administrators and board members for mis spending of school funds. It's really a witch hunt. This is the guy who is in charge of our district now and we are in huge trouble

Anonymous said...

$155K in conference fees, meals, air travel, etc for administrators in a few years while teachers get cut isn't exactly a witch hunt.

The truth hurts.

Shiel fan club member #124.