A pair of decisions made in sports circles familiar to Butler County have shown me something.

One is that Butler graduate Ethan Morton is exactly who I figured he was.

Another is that school boards need to stop hiding behind the “private personnel decision” blanket.

Morton, the Golden Tornado record-breaking basketball player who went on to Purdue University, went through a rough freshman year with the Boilermakers. He saw limited minutes early in the season after recovering from mononucleosis during the preseason.

When a couple of Purdue players — Eric Hunter Jr. and Jaden Ivey — returned from early season injuries, Morton’s minutes diminished even more.

The transfer portal seemed like a viable option for him after the Boilermakers’ season ended with an upset loss to North Texas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

An option he’s choosing not to take.

Morton confirmed that he is committed to staying at Purdue and will not transfer.

He is determined to prove his value to the program he originally committed to, rather than opt out and find a personnel situation elsewhere that might be easier for him.

Morton was always a stand-up kid in high school — and a confident kid at the same time.

Purdue is only bringing in a couple of new scholarship players and two players on this year’s team have transferred out.

A re-energized Morton will return next season more motivated than ever.

Don’t bet against him.

Eric Kasperowicz in or out?

It seems nobody knows for sure.

But this whole situation involving the Pine-Richland High School football coach never needed to cause the public uproar that it did.

This guy was 85-18, winning two state titles and four WPIAL championships during his time with the Rams.

So when the school board announced it voted to not renew the supplemental contracts of Kasperowicz and his entire staff, calling it a personnel decision, did it really expect such a move to not be met with outrage?

The school district has been beaten up on social media, student demonstrations have taken place in front of the school, former Seneca Valley coach Don Holl has called for no one in the state to apply for that opening ... was any of this necessary?

No.

The other day, Pine-Richland’s school board president issued a statement detailing a three-month investigation into a number of issues surrounding student misconduct and rites of passage. He said a letter detailing the findings of those investigations was sent to Kasperowicz.

This couldn’t have been disclosed in the first place?

Sure, there still would have been some backlash, but not to the degree it was.

The head football coach of any high school is an entrusted figure to that community. School board members are elected officials.

All people want are answers.

And they deserve them.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle