Should Phil Shar continue as basketball coach at West Mifflin?

I don't know how Mr. Shar was as a teacher.  Mr. Shar is not applying for a formal teaching position.  The issue was Mr. Shar's coaching credentials.

"this type of behavior should not be tolerated by anyone"

Then you have no objection to removing Mr. Risha and Mrs. Olasz?  Please pick a side of the fence and stay there.

"You can't talk bad about you boss in every media outlet available and think you can get away with it."

Pay attention to the time line of events. Mr. Shar, as a West Mifflin taxpayer, spoke out against Mr. Risha's plan for the middle school.  Mr. Shar presented facts that were contrary to Mr. Risha's facts.  Mr. Risha wanted to meet Mr. Shar in the parking lot.

Mr. Shar was called into the school and basically told he was fired.  Then, Mr. Shar commented to the media that Mr. Risha works from home.  Which later was uncovered to be a 100% factual statement.  Mr. Shar's comments regarding Mr. Risha appeared after Mr. Shar was fired.  

Are you saying that you can never tell the truth?

"I feel sorry for the kids because at the end of the day, they suffer."

You are absolutely correct.  If the girls best interest was truly the primary objective, as it should be, organized practices would have occured as well as some tourament entries to get playing experience.  Whose responsibility was it to make this happen?  The fired Mr. Shar or Mr. Risha and the school board?  (hint: Mr. Risha and the school board)

"All that I can say is that what goes around...comes around Phil.  He should have concentrated on his teaching career, rather than his coaching career.  I personally had and faultered in his classes.  The man read from a book ---point blank.  He was not a professional educator in my opinion.  His teaching style lacked unless you benifited him...via sports.  He only cared about his coaching career and not his actual students."

OK, in your opinion he was not a good teacher.  How about his basketball coaching credentials?  Do you want him to tudor your daughter or teach her basketball?  How do you feel about Pat Riley's hair style?  Who cares!  Pat Riley is a phenomenal basketball coach.   See the parallelism?

BTW - there are still very bad teachers at West Mifflin, and you can see how the school board is aggressively putting education first to address this issue.

"One of them being a boys parents mother.  They should be ashamed to speak of peoples privates lives that they have no knowledge of."

Yep I heard comments too.  I heard that one of Mrs. Olasz's children (I'm making this intentionally vague) was caught cheating on a test, was not disciplined, and was given the opportunity to take the test again.  However, another student was caught cheating, received a zero, and was not given an opportunity to take the test again.  Membership has its privileges.

"Mrs Shar continued to voice negative remarks about Mrs Olasz to a group of parents she did not know.  I personally overheard these comments and was completely infuriated."  

I didn't hear these comments, and I'm not saying that this did not occur.  However, Mrs. Olasz just blasted her husband and provided no opportunity to respond.  Apparently, Mrs. Shar must care for her husband more than Mrs. Olasz.

"Mr Shar deserves what he fot if he is anything like his wife."

So you don't know about Mr. Shar's coaching credentials or facts about his firing as one of the most successful coaches ever in West Mifflin or how his past, present, and future players were there to support him.  I'm glad you made your decision on the best girls head coaching position based on you opinion of Mrs. Shar.  Keep of the in-depth thinking!

Phil Shar is for Phil Shar.  If he feels a girl can help him in his programs, she has a spot until she fails in his eyes.  For example:  He has a  summer program and takes offense if one of the girls want to go on vacatIon with her family.  She can go, but is on the sh** list for a while.

The girls are expected to be there all summer long.  Yet, I've been there when a girl took the summer off, but at the end of August, he put her back in the swing of things.  She was an average scorer, but her mother worked for the school district. 

When I challenged him about letting her walk on after all the other girls spent the summer, his response was "So what?"  That's just one example of his arrogance.  There are others.

As far as Risha goes, he is setting himself up for another buy-out.  I don't think he's been in the high school 10 times since he was hired.  The school board consists mainly of has-beens and the majority love Risha.  (Why, I don't know.)  If they knew anything, they would be insisting on somebody they are paying in excess of $100 grand to show up for work.  Period.  I've heard that Risha is smart and knows what is going on.  Bull!  He should report to work, daily.

Mark my  words...Buy-out #3 coming up.

As to hiring Mindy McClelland to coach the team, this sounds like a Risha deal, because she is a good-looking lady.  With somebody like Montel Staples available out there, where is the common sense of the board.  Obviously, they don't have any.

Bossman Mike

Phil Shar should keep his job!
Mr. Risha should be fired. He is an overpayed individual who doesn't show up for work or even care about the students from his district. He should be a more hands-on superintendent.
-Kay

Look at the West Mifflin School Board.  Maybe, with the exception of one or two, would you want any of these people working for you?

4 or 5 are in it only for ego purposes.  The others because it gives them somewhere to go on Thursday nights.

As long as the "brain dead" voters keep electing them, things will never change.

Could you imagine hiring somebody for +$100,000 and letting him work from home, when there are 5 or 6 schools in the district?   Does this point out  the intelligence of the board?  Risha's no dummy.  He scarfed it up.  I think the board thought  they got a bargain.  Duh!

I'm no fan of Shar, but I think he woke up a few people.  Good for him.  Maybe something will be done about Risha.  (Here comes another buy-out for the guy.!)

As for Mrs Olasz's child, you need to get the facts before you post.  And why bring the children into this?  Nobody said a word about Phil Shar's children so leave your "rude" comments about innocent children out of your frustration.  Mr Shar's wife showed low character by saying the things she said about Mrs Olasz.  All things come to and end and his coaching career has done just that.  I as a taxpayer want coaches that can be looked up to and from what I hear he is not the man.  Lets see how many former players come back  now that there promises to be fair treatment to all the girls.  As for Mrs Shar I am sure there is a gossip column waiting for a writer.  She may be the woman for the job.

"As for Mrs Olasz's child, you need to get the facts before you post.  And why bring the children into this?"  

This was in reply to what was overheard in the meeting.  If this is not factual, post the truth.  While you are at it, post some of the other special attention that the Olasz children have received, because more was stated at the meeting; I only stated a small portion of what I heard.  

Why don't you examine all of the coaches since you apparently care about role model for coaches (I actually agree with you on this.)   There is one head coach, that F's, MF's, and hit one of their players.  This same coach told a player that they feel sorry for this person and that is why they start.  What type of professionalism is this.  How is this coach representing West Mifflin School District?

The comments that were overhesrd were not about the children but about Mrs Olasz herself.  The children of these board members should never be an issue.  Many students receive benefits from coaches and teacher and don't have a school board member as a parent. 

As for a coach that MF's players, they too should be gone.  All of WM coachin is political and it stinks.  I agree Risha should be gone but why does the ex-coaches wife need to blame everyone else but Risha.  Perhaps he hangs threats above members heads and they are too afraid of the ramifications of a Mafia man.

All I ask is to leave innocent children out of this

 WHAT A SCAM!  Phil Shar is a wonderful guy, and a great coach. I know that because I went to college with him, and saw how well he conducted himself in class and out on campus.  He was, and is, a good friend who is getting the shaft for doing a good job in coaching and teaching.  He needs to be reinstated, or doesn't this Board know what they are losing in the process?

 Coming from personal experience....I am far too familiar with Mr. Shar and Mr. Risha. I will say neither are in this for the kids. Both have egos. At the end of the day, Mr. Risha knows where his bread is buttered. Phil Shar has never known that.  As many other posters have stated, Phil Shar was in it if it benefited him and only him. Students and athletes suffered at the hands of Phil Shar. He promoted low hanging fruit...nothing more nothing less. Each and every year, there were female athletes who either left the school or left the program to avoid his wrath.  If you were in you were IN.....but have one incling of a thought against his empire and you were benched and embarrassed be it in front of fellow teammates or in front of a stadium of spectators. He only knew what to do with athletes who were able to stroke his ego.

Myself and others have waited a long time to have others see Phil Shar for who he is. The student athletes will benefit from this in a long run. What kind of coach starts calling his players when all of this went down. It is disgraceful....and shows his lack of understanding as a coach and teacher. They may not feel like it....but he was calling teenagers and their parents....when he should have stepped up and for once been a person people could look up to. Instead of saying it was inappropriate to challenge his boss....he continued to do so in a public and private forum. Ironic as it is....he benched MANY players for similar reasons.

Although I am not a huge fan of Mr. Risha, I applaud the Board for finally making a decision that should have been done quite some time ago.

Phil Shar...now you can see how you made so many feel over the years. Enjoy.....