Mars not bringing back Jason Thompson as baseball coach after ‘mistake’ during team trip to Florida
Jason Thompson guided Mars varsity baseball to four WPIAL playoff appearances in five years, including a pair of semifinal games.
But the Planets will have a new coach in 2027.
The school district opened Thompson’s position over the summer. He was invited to reapply for the post — which he did — but did not receive a second interview.
Thompson, 44, was 66-43 in five years as head coach. The Planets were eliminated this spring in the WPIAL Class 5A first round.
“It’s disappointing, but I understand it,” Thompson said. “It all stems up from an off-field incident that occurred while we were on our Florida trip in March.”
The Planets’ junior varsity and varsity teams made that trip. Thompson said the JV team had a game scheduled for 10:30 a.m. one day, with the varsity not scheduled to play until around noon.
Thompson and the other coaches went with the JV team and planned to go back to the motel for the varsity unit a while afterward.
“The (varsity) kids were left in the supervision of parents who were there, but there was no coach with them for about a 40-minute window or so,” Thompson said. “While we were gone, some of the varsity players decided to play a prank on the underclassmen.
“They moved some furniture around in their rooms, displaced some things ... No damage was done to anything or anyone, just a prankish sort of thing.”
When the coaches returned and learned of what happened, they made the varsity players return every item to its proper place.
“We punished the players involved by making them sit out the next game down there,” Thompson said of the Florida trip. “I thought that was the end of it.”
When the baseball team returned home and began its regular season schedule, an investigation was held pertaining to the motel incident. A few players served suspensions from school and games and Thompson was suspended two games.
Again, Thompson figured that would be the end of it.
“They said I left the team unattended by coaches on a out-of-state trip and that violated the school’s coaching protocol,” Thompson said. “Honestly, at the time, I didn’t think we were doing anything wrong.
“In retrospect, it was a mistake. Not having a coach stay back with the kids was wrong.”
Still, Thompson was surprised to lose the coaching position at the end of the season.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. “I love Mars and I’m loyal to the district and the program. I loved working with those kids.”
Thompson is in his 20th year as an eighth-grade United States history teacher at Mars. He will remain in that position.
“It was fun getting to know kids in eighth grade, then coach them four years in high school,” he said. “Watching them grow up, go to prom, graduate, move on to college, become young men, was such a thrill. I’ll miss that.
“I’m not planning on coaching anywhere else. My blood, my heart ... it’s right here.”
When word got out Thompson’s coaching position was being opened up, he said “numerous parents, players and alumni stepped up on my behalf. I still didn’t get the job, but I’m extremely grateful for that show of support.”
Mars has yet to announce a hiring to fill the head baseball coaching job. Multiple attempts to reach Mars athletic director Zach Matusak for comment were not returned.
