School officials in Milford, Ohio, have unanimously approved a new basis to terminate athletics director Aaron Zupka, accusing him of misusing tens of thousands of dollars in addition to a separate allegation involving nearly $100,000 connected to athletics boosters.
As reported by CBS affiliate WKRC in Cincinnati, the latest allegation centers on a $40,000 payment the district says Zupka accepted for the boosters from TriHealth as part of a deal with Beacon Orthopedics. The school board says the agreement allowing him to do so had expired three months earlier in June 2025.
"The board’s action comes months after it accused Zupka of misdirecting sponsorship funds from Cullen Electric," WKRC's Daniel Zivian reported. "Zupka has been in limbo since January, when the school board voted to suspend him for allegedly misusing funds. The board said a referee was appointed to hold a termination hearing but has not reached out to schedule it."
Per Zivian, Zupka attorney Mark Byrne said the invoice was legitimate and said an unemployment hearing officer already rejected the original misappropriation claim after two days of testimony this past spring.
“The parties went before an unbiased unemployment hearing officer for two days of testimony this past spring, in which he found there was no misappropriation," Byrne said. "There is another hearing scheduled in August before a different hearing officer on the same issue but under a different statute.
“Milford’s motivation for why it continues to propagate a continuous narrative of falsehoods against Aaron that it knows are untrue will be determined by other unbiased third parties later this year."
Milford responded that Byrne was referring to an unemployment hearing related to benefits and other issues and said the decision is not final. The district said it is contesting that decision and won on other parts of the case.
Milford also said it has a team working to improve oversight of athletics and communication with boosters, WKRC reported.
