JEFFERSON TWP — The Knoch High School girls varsity basketball coach has been let go, which has disappointed a number of parents who spoke Wednesday night to the South Butler School Board.

Dave Peters, the coach for the past two years, was asked in late February not to return by the Athletic Director Michael King, according to the parents.

The Knights are 11-33 under Peters and have lost 21 of 26 section games in his two seasons. The team missed the WPIAL playoffs in both years.

He guided the team to an 8-14 record in 2014-15. That was an improvement over the team's 2-20 mark of the previous season.

Superintendent David Zupsic would not comment, saying it is a personnel matter.

Mike Archer, a parent of a player, said he did not know why Peters was asked not to return, but another parent, Amy Squyres, said parent complaints caused the district to reportedly dismiss Peters.

Peters said this morning, “I was happy at South Butler and hoped to continue there. The district and athletic director decided they wanted to go in another direction.”

He is a teacher at the Butler Area Vocational-Technical School.

A number of parents said this coaching change jeopardizes the long-term viability of the program and makes it that much harder for the girls to flourish when there is little coaching consistency.

“I coached from last year and this year at the lower levels,” Tim Protos told the board.

“I cannot attest for the varsity levels, but what I can attest for is that every single Saturday when (the lower levels) had games, he was there,” he said of Peters.

“My daughter is not the best basketball player, but he still welcomed her with opened arms and was teaching her the fundamentals of the game.”

“My son was also in basketball, and I also coached for the boys basketball team. And I can tell you this right now — if the boys varsity coach is sitting in here right now, I would not know who he is. Never saw him. If he was there, he didn't introduce himself.

“Coach Peters was very involved with all of the younger parents. That being said, I've also played basketball, and ... I've never had a coach like Peters who is involved at every single level,” Protos said.

Angela Parisi, another parent, spoke about the need to build continuity in athletics at every age level. For her, Peters was working toward that, and getting rid of him is a move away from that united program.

“I was able to be involved in one of the younger girls' programs,” Parisi told the board. “You cannot start a program at seventh grade or even ninth grade and expect it to work. So the fact that you have a coach who is willing to put in the time and effort into these younger girls, starting as early as kindergarten and first grade, just will give light years of benefit to this program.

“It's not going to last just by having somebody in here for two years and not giving them a shot to continue the program.”

Parisi added that Peters had both “the dedication and the heart” to build a stronger, more successful program.

Other parents echoed this sentiment.

“I feel the move to not bring Coach Peters back ... is short-sighted for the program,” Archer said.

Peters is Knoch's fourth head girls basketball coach in eight years.

“Coach Peters took over a program that has been unable to consistently perform over the past decade. Sure, we've had a good team at times, but we haven't had a successful program over an extended period of time.”

Archer added, “Our girls deserve better. You need to invest in our program. Coach Peters has done that.”

Jaylee Lassinger, a player under Peters, spoke about his benefit to the team.

“I'm not sure of all of the reasons Coach Peters was fired on Feb. 24,” Lassinger said. “He enhanced the program so much over the past couple of years. We, as a team, have come a long way since he came to help.”

“How are we supposed to work as a team if the coaching style keeps changing?” Lassinger asked the board.

Parent Robert Siegel said the coach's record should not be an aspect in the coach's employment, if that was a factor.

“I kind of thought that high school sports was more teaching kids what to do after leaving high school,” he said.

“We all know, as a parent, it's not an easy life out there. It's not. I think if he's getting fired because we didn't win states this year, that's uncalled for.”

Siegel continued, “As a school district, we need to kind of realize what our goals are for our basketball program. We all want to win, but I think we need to really look at what's important to the school.

“I know my daughter, as a person, grew a lot this year because of the basketball program and I thank the coaches for that.”