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By KEVIN HOFFMAN khoffman@leader.net
Thursday, January 27, 2000 Page: 1A
HAZLETON – High School football coach John Yaccino admitted he disciplined
players by calling them names or jokingly kicking them in the butt, but said a
School Board vote tonight on whether to oust him is nothing but a witch hunt.
“I’m not an angel, believe me. I’m a very hard disciplinarian. My kids do
what they’re supposed to do,” he said. “If you’re an athlete, you have to be
able to accept criticism.”
Hired four years ago, Yaccino said he promised then to bring discipline
back to a program that had gotten so out of control that football players were
terrorizing people and mistreating each other. He said he was told one hazing
ritual included players being forced to masturbate in front of others.
Yaccino didn’t specify under which coach the alleged hazing took place.
Rich Matz, who served as assistant football coach from 1974 to 1985 and as
head coach from 1985 to 1995, was outraged by Yaccino’s comments.
“That is totally ridiculous and he is a sick, sick man,” Matz said.
“I’ve never, ever heard something so repulsive from an educator in my life.
… He’s a desperate man using desperate measures.”
The Hazleton Area School Board is scheduled to vote tonight on whether to
open Yaccino’s coaching position, and in a separate vote decide whether to
review other coaching positions in the district.
Board member Betsy Durso said the decision was prompted by problems similar
to an incident with the eighth-grade basketball team at Heights-Terrace
Elementary, which Yaccino also coaches. Seven kids quit the team in early
December, Yaccino said.
The mother of one of the children said the players left the team because
Yaccino called some of them “fat” and “stupid.” The mother would only
speak anonymously because she feared repercussions for her son.
Yaccino characterized the incident differently, saying that one of the
players used peer pressure to urge other players to quit, but he didn’t deny
calling players names in the past as a disciplinary measure.
“Did I say to some people, `You’re fat?’ Sure, I said it. Am I demeaning
that kid or am I trying to criticize him in order to (make him) an athlete?”
Yaccino asked. “You people are taking coaching things out of context.”
Former football players also have accused Yaccino of kicking them in the
butt. Yaccino said it had happened twice during his four years coaching the
team and that it had been blown out of proportion.
“(The player) bends over and I give him a soft, open foot tap on the butt.
And then I say to the guy whose next to him: You’re next. And as I’m doing it,
everybody’s laughing, including them,” he said.
Yaccino denied allegations made by some former players and their parents
that he had withheld recruiting letters from students until it was too late
for them to get athletic scholarships.
Yaccino said his strict discipline ended hazing among the football players.
He said that sometime prior to him becoming the coach, some players had been
forced to masturbate in front of people to get on the team.
“How about when the kids used to jerk off in front of everybody in order
to get on the team?” he said. “And now they’re worried that I called one kid
fat? And they took it out of context.”
After an initial interview Wednesday afternoon, a reporter called Yaccino
back to confirm his remark referred to masturbation. Yaccino said yes, and
that he heard the allegations from more than one person.
Yaccino suggested a reporter call Hazleton Area Superintendent Geraldine
Shepperson and ask her about the allegations. Shepperson did not immediately
return a message left on her secretary’s answering machine.
Yaccino later called back and asked to retract his comment about
masturbation, saying it was a separate issue that had nothing to do with the
School Board’s decision about his job.
Athletic Director Chris Perry said that to his knowledge, no Hazleton
players were ever forced to masturbate in front of others.
Bobby Mint, brother of School Board member Betsy Durso, played on the
Hazleton Area football team from 1983-85. He said there was an initiation
process to get on the team, but that it never involved masturbation.
“All they would do is hit you with towels and stuff like that,” Mint
said.
Call Hoffman at 829-7139.