Residents Press Board on Coach, Team’s Future

MASD pres says school directors are listening but do not plan action

By Adam Reinherz
The Tube City Almanac
December 16, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

McKeesport Area High School alumnus and Tigers football standout Khaleke Hudson addresses the school board. (Screenshot from McKeesport Area School District feed via YouTube.)

For the second straight week, McKeesport Area School District directors listened to community members debate the future of McKeesport’s high school football team. 

But school directors are so far declining to take any public action, Board President Dave Seropian said following Thursday’s board meeting.

“People are passionate about our football team, and there are people on both sides of the issue,” he said. “They both have differences of opinion about what should happen.”

Since 2016, Matt Miller, who also teaches history at the high school, has coached McKeesport’s team. Weeks ago, the Tigers were defeated in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game by Alliquipa. In 2024, McKeesport also fell one win short of clinching the title. Under Miller’s leadership, according to MaxPreps, the team has gone 89-31.

“I’m here again to talk about our head football coach, because this issue doesn't seem to be going away,” Josh Lefcowitz, a former school director, said during Thursday’s school board meeting. “We've heard lies, innuendo, nonsense. We have a great coach, a great program. I implore this board to focus on the real issues that exist.”

The “issue,” according to Starr Wright, “goes far beyond coaching. It goes far beyond wins and losses. What we're dealing with is a need for real change, change that directly affects the future of young men in this football program.”

Nick LoNigro, an assistant football coach and math instructor, told school directors he’s heard people in the community saying that the coaching staff “does not do enough” for student-athletes. He disagreed.

“As a math teacher, I feel like I should be a better counter, but sometimes I lose count,” LoNigro said. “I think that‘s sometimes a blessing, because I can‘t seem to count how many times I‘ve ridden a kid home over the past eight years.

“I can't count how many t-shirts, pairs of shorts, sweatshirts, shoes I and other coaches and friends have donated to our players so they can have something to work out in or practice in,” LoNigro said. “I can’t count how many phone calls I've made, or the coaching staff has made, to make sure to check in on our student athletes. I can't count how many hours of film I and this staff has watched, re-watched each week, every year, for every team we play.

“I can't count how many websites I've searched for collegiate coach email addresses and Twitter handles to get extra exposure to our student athletes,” LoNigro said.

Coaches undertake these actions “for the love of our players and love of our program,” he said.

McKeesport resident Joe Smith told school directors he attended South Allegheny and spent four years playing football for five head coaches — a situation he described as "ridiculous."

“That's the path that you would head down if you start opening the door to a couple disgruntled people deciding that it's time to change,” Smith said. “You represent the people but you represent the kids, and I promise you the kids were not served in any of those situations. They were not heard, they were not thought about. It was people with agendas.”

Former McKeesport standout Khaleke Hudson, who later played for the Michigan Wolverines and was selected by the Washington Commanders in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL draft, told school directors he was compelled to attend Thursday’s meeting and speak “simply as a proud son of McKeesport, somebody who grew up on these streets, played on these fields, walked these hallways and lived the same life these kids are living right now.”

“I'm here because I care deeply, personally, emotionally. This isn't football talk. This is life,” he said.

Hudson told school directors he could not “just sit and pretend everything is OK when I know we can be better, when I know we deserve better.”

In recent years, Hudson said he’s observed the Tigers “losing games we should be winning, championships that slip out of our hands, opportunities that should have belonged to our kids.”

What’s bothered him most aren’t losses on a scoreboard, he said. “It's the kids who fall through the academic cracks. It’s the kids who never get developed. It’s the athletes who could be playing D1 but end up unnoticed. It's the players who switch schools because they feel stuck. It's the ones who don't feel seen, don't feel taught, don't feel prepared.

“It hurts deeper than any championship loss, because McKeesport has too much talent, too much heart, too much history to be settling for good enough,” Hudson said. “And that’s not me pointing fingers. That’s me saying the truth. We all know our kids need more.”

Hudson, who prior to being released by the Tennessee Titans in August played for the Commanders, New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns, said he’s still receiving calls from teams, but would forgo their interest for a chance to lead the Tigers. 

“I could chase another contract. I could keep waiting for that next shot. I could keep training for the next team that might call, but when I look at these kids, when I look at this community, when I look at this program, I realize something — there's nothing in football more important than what's right here at home,” he said. “I'm ready to lead, I'm ready to build. I'm ready to pour everything I live, everything I've learned, everything I am, back into this program. I'm ready to be the head coach of McKeesport High School.”

Tube City Almanac left messages for Miller on email and phone. He could not be reached for comment before publication.

Seropian said school directors have already had “pretty substantial discussions about it, and it should be obvious, since there was not any action to open up the new job that at this time there’s not enough support to do that. Whether that'll change or not, I can't predict.”

These meetings afford community members an opportunity to address school directors, solicitor Gary Matta said. “The board is able to listen to the community. If they feel that they want to move forward, they are able to. If they don't want to, that's their option as well.”

Adam Reinherz is a Pittsburgh-based journalist. He can be reached at adam.reinherz@gmail.com. 

Originally published December 16, 2025.

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