Seneca Valley football coach Ron Butschle steps down after ‘difficult year’

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | 1:09 AM

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Citing a “negativity” around the program, Ron Butschle resigned Tuesday as Seneca Valley’s football coach, saying his exit might give the team a fresh start.

This was Butschle’s second stint as the Raiders head coach starting in 2017. The team went 39-42 in the past eight seasons and reached the WPIAL playoffs five times, including this year. The Raiders finished 3-7 this fall for the second year in a row, but Butschle said it wasn’t the wins and losses that weighed most on his decision.

“This has been a difficult year for me,” he said. “It has had very little or nothing to do with actual football. Without going into great detail, there’s just been a lot of negativity that has affected not just me but my family.

“As much as I love coaching and love the kids, I had to have some honest conversations with the people in my life who mean the most to me. It was just the right time for me to step away.”

Butschle, 60, has a career record of 101-95 in 19 seasons at Seneca Valley (2004-08, 2017-24) and Sto-Rox (2000-03, 2010-11). He coached two stints at each school and took both to the WPIAL finals.

Sto-Rox reached the finals in 2003 and ‘11. Seneca Valley was the WPIAL 6A runner-up in 2018.

“I’m very thankful for all of the years of coaching both at Sto-Rox and Seneca Valley,” Butschle said. “Football has given me relationships that are priceless. I still love the sport, love coaching, love the kids, but I did not love a lot of the things outside of football that affected me, my family and the locker room.”

Butschle declined to share specifics.

He expressed gratitude for the support of Seneca Valley athletic director Heather Lewis throughout the season. On Tuesday, he met with the Seneca Valley players.

“I made sure they knew that this decision had absolutely nothing to do with them,” Butschle said. “They’re great kids. Other than my time with my family, my time at practice is the highlight of my day.”

Seneca Valley finished its season Friday with a 38-13 loss to top-seeded Central Catholic in the WPIAL 6A playoffs. The Raiders went 3-3 in the conference with wins over Norwin, Canon-McMillan and Hempfield.

The playoff game was the team’s first in three seasons.

“We struggled the last two years,” Butschle said. “Maybe a new face and a new look will be good for everybody.”

He rejoined Seneca Valley’s football team in 2015 as an assistant under then-coach Dave Vestal. Butschle was promoted to head coach two years later when Vestal resigned.

Butchle said Tuesday that he couldn’t predict where or when he might coach next — or if he’d coach again — but was leaving that door open.

“I’m not going to sit around and learn to knit,” he said. “I don’t think my time is done. But I wanted my time at Seneca Valley to come to a graceful end.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

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