Fan violence, whether toward officials, coaches or even other fans, has become increasingly common at youth and prep sporting events. At William Valley (Penn.) High School, the threats and violence reached a boiling point, causing successful head coach Stephen Sedesse to resign on Monday.
According to Football Scoop, the problems began when Sedesse benched two players for unsportsmanlike behavior. The student-athletes did not play the first half of an Oct. 3 game against Schuylkill-Colonial.
“When parents obviously found out we were going to be sitting some kids, we got a lot of backlash, a lot of threats,” said Sedesse. “We were threatened that if their kids don’t start in the game, we would need extra security at the game.”
Sedesse went on to describe threats made to his family and his business. The tires on his family truck were even slashed in retaliation for benching the two players. A town billboard was vandalized with derogatory and abusive language toward Sedesse.
“I decided Monday morning that, if my business going to get threatened, if my family is going to get threatened - it’s small school football - I don’t need to have that in my life," said Sedesse.
Sedesse had racked up two, consecutive district championships and a playoff appearance in his two years as head coach of the Vikings. Despite this, school administrators sided with the angry parents after he benched the players for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Sedesse was facing a two-game suspension for the decision.
Now, assistant coach Ben Ancheff will step in as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
Said Sedesse in a letter published by Sports Illustrated, “When I took this role, it was with hopes of changing a culture and helping in the pursuit of building student-athletes. When you lose the ability to discipline and hold members of your team accountable, the ship will sink. That is where my decision is based.”
