Hempfield set to hire Norwin’s Brandon Rapp as athletic director

By: Paul Schofield
Friday, June 12, 2020 | 8:40 PM

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It looks like the Hempfield Area School Board will be hiring Brandon Rapp as its new athletic director.

The current Norwin athletic director’s name appears on the school board agenda for approval at Monday’s meeting.

Rapp was one of 66 applicants for the position that opened when Greg Meisner resigned April 3 after serving for 15 years.

Rapp and school board athletic committee chairman Vince DeAugustine were unavailable for comment.

The hiring committee, headed by superintendent Tammy Wolicki, interviewed 11 candidates and pared that group to four — two from the WPIAL, one from an adjoining PIAA district and one from out of state.

The hiring committee then zeroed in on the 34-year-old Rapp.

“All four have outstanding credentials,” DeAugustine said early this week. “The hiring committee has selected their top choice and now is negotiating a contract.”

Rapp is expected to make between $90,000 and $105,000 a year on a three-year contract.

DeAugustine said earlier if Rapp was hired, he would be excited about the decision. DeAugustine was hired by Rapp as Norwin’s wrestling coach.

Rapp has spent the past seven years at Norwin, leading the athletic department while the WPIAL decided to hold two championship football games at the school in 2019.

He served as the athletic director at Derry for three years and was a football coach for two seasons at Redbank Valley in District 9.

A 2008 Slippery Rock graduate and native of Knox in Clarion County, Rapp also worked as assistant football coach at Keystone Area and as a director at the Clarion County YMCA.

Meisner, 60, is a Valley grad and former NFL defensive lineman and former Pitt star. He was hired as Hempfield’s football coach and athletic director in 2005 and resigned as coach in 2011 after going 17-50 over seven seasons.

If hired at Hempfield Area, the Norwin School Board would need to advertise for a replacement or appoint someone as the athletic director or an interim. The school board is not scheduled to meet in July.

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: Hempfield, Norwin