Greensburg Salem football, baseball coaches resign

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 | 7:29 PM

Being a high school coach has its rewards and drawbacks.

There is the thrill of victories and the building of relationships with student-athletes. Those are some of the good things.

Some of the difficult thing for coaches is not being there for the sons and daughters as they grow up.

Greensburg Salem football coach Dave Keefer and baseball coach Bill Wisniewski have been coaching for more than 20 years. Now they want to be there to watch their children play in high school.

Keefer and Wisniewski resigned Monday and said they leave with no regrets.

“Family is the biggest reason I’m moving on,” Keefer said. “I believe we did a lot of good things with the program, but it’s time to move on. The program needs an injection of fresh ideas. But the biggest reason I’m stepping away is that I want to watch my kids (Colton and Claire) participate in sports.”

Keefer, 48, coached at Greensburg Salem for 17 years, the last 10 as head coach. He also coached at Central Catholic (five years) and Hempfield (two years). He is a 1993 Mt. Pleasant graduate.

“I love coaching, and some day I may return,” said Keefer, who led the Golden Lions to a 4-6 record this season. “I enjoyed the relationships that I built with the players and coaching community.

“But right now I have no plan on returning. I’m lucky that my wife (Dawn) was able to keep things together while I coached.”

Wisniewski, 47, said he is not sure if he’ll continue to be an assistant with the football program, but watching his son Ty play sports is the main reason he’s stepping down.

Wisniewski, a 1994 Mt. Pleasant graduate, has coached the baseball team for 18 years, the first nine as an assistant with the late Jim Stewart. Wisniewski also coached for two years at Mt. Pleasant.

“I started to think about stepping down last spring when I’d be on the bus coming from games, and I’d get texts on how he was doing,” Wisniewski said. “I want to watch him play.

“I enjoyed coaching, and I enjoyed the relationships that were built. What was nice was guys who played for me came back to help out the program and were my assistants. I feel the program is in good shape.”

Greensburg Salem athletic director Frank Sundry said the programs are losing outstanding individuals who cared a lot about helping their players on and off the field.

“They’ll be missed,” Sundry said. “They both did outstanding jobs.”

Sundry said he will begin the process of hiring new coaches.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg Salem