SLIPPERY ROCK — For the second time in four months, Slippery Rock High has a new football coach — and is looking for another.

Joe Lamenza, 31, who was hired in March to replace Clyde Conti, resigned Monday night.

Glenn Hazlet, an assistant under the previous two coaches at the school, Brendan Smith and Clyde Conti, was named interim coach at a school board meeting Monday night.

Lamenza said he resigned in part because he was passed over for at least two teaching positions in the Slippery Rock School District since he was hired as the head football coach.

Lamenza is a teacher in the Beaver Area School District.

"They didn't promise me a job, but there was an understanding that I would commute until a position opened in my field," Lamenza said. "(Monday) I was passed over for another job. This should have been easy. At any other school district, when you hire a head football coach and there is a teaching position open, you hire him. It's a no-brainer."

Lamenza is certified in high school English and elementary education. He has a master's degree.

"It's not like I'm not qualified," Lamenza said. "It's not like I was asking them to create a position for me."

Even without a job in the school district, Lamenza intended to commute to Slippery Rock to coach the team.

But that plan became moot when Lamenza was transferred to a position at an elementary school in the Beaver district that is re-opening this fall and is understaffed.

Facing a longer school day, Lamenza said it would be impossible for him to teach, make the nearly one hour commute to Slippery Rock, hold practice and study film.

"I wouldn't be able to start practice until 5:30 p.m.," Lamenza said. "We wouldn't get off the field until 7:30 p.m. That's not practical. When do I do my school work? When do I see my wife?

"(Resigning) was not something I wanted to do," Lamenza added. "I've been telling anyone who would listen for three months that this could happen. I needed a job."

More than 60 players and parents attended the meeting in support of Lamenza.

Slippery Rock board member Kirby Lotz said Lamenza's schedule change was unfortunate, but the school board is not at fault for his resignation.

"His schedule changed," Lotz said. "Not ours."

School board member S. Diana Gieraltowski, who voted no on appointing Hazlet as interim coach, said Lamenza was a good fit for the program.

"There was a discussion about the distance (when he interviewed) and that was not a problem at the time," Gieraltowski said. "His position at Beaver changed unexpectedly."

More than 60 players and parents attended the meeting to lobby the school board to retain Lamenza.

Dylan Brown, who will be a sophomore on the team this season, said he and his teammates have invested too much in Lamenza over the last four months to start over again.

"For our season to be a success, we believe Lamenza is the only person for the job," Brown said. "We realize we do not have a say in everything, but asking us to learn a new system in three weeks with a new coach is too much."

Jeffrey Dimit, who has a son on the team, wondered who would take over the program on a permanent basis with just three weeks remaining before camp opens.

"No coach in their right mind would come here," he said.

Lamenza said he already has been rehired as defensive coordinator at Beaver, a position he has held for the last two seasons.

Lamenza said his now-former Slippery Rock players were the first to tell him about the school board's decision.

"That's how I found out," he said, "from a couple of players bawling their eyes out after the meeting."

Lamenza said Slippery Rock was a place he saw himself staying "for 30 to 40 years."

Conti, who coached at Slippery Rock for seven seasons, was the longest tenured football coach in the 40-plus years of football at the school.

"I feel bad for the kids," Lamenza said. "I'll land on my feet. It is the kids who are going to suffer.

"I saw this as a long-term commitment. Their longest tenured coach was, what, seven years? That's nothing. Seven years is a blip. Now I can see why. There is no support."

Butler Eagle staff writer Stephanie Rex contributed to this story.