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A high school football coach in the state of Pennsylvania stepped down midseason amid threats from parents. Stephen Sedesse is no longer leading the Williams Valley program.
A controversial suspension of two players appears to be the cause of a rift between parents and staff. Sedesse opened up on the resignation after the fact.
Stephen Sedesse walked away from Williams Valley High School football.
The coach has been at the helm for two and a half seasons. The Vikings have posted a 28-6 mark in that time. Despite the success, the locker room was reportedly in disarray.
Sedesse noted a lack of respect for leadership from players on the team. It resulted in punishments in the form of extra conditioning. When that failed, suspensions followed.
Two players were benched for a game vs. Panther Valley. Those suspensions angered parents of Williams Valley players, leading to threats off the field.
“We had tires flattened in my dad’s (Defensive coordinator Mike Sedesse) truck,” the coach said. “We had some billboards painted with some derogatory words on it.”
Sedesse was subsequently suspended for extending the punishments of the previously mentioned players, who were initially set to miss one half of high school football action.
He responded with a resignation on Monday.
“When I took this role, it was with hopes of changing a culture and helping in the pursuit of building student-athletes. When you lose the ability to discipline and hold members of your team accountable, the ship will sink. That is where my decision is based.
“We are 28-6 as a staff and after 28 wins I never had a parent attack me. After the six losses I had a parent or multiple parents threaten my job and livelihood. Each time nothing was done or handled, each time it happened again and again, like clockwork. As a 29-year-old head coach, when you have no support, you can’t make it work.”
-Stephen Sedesse via SI.com
Athletic director Ben Ancheff is expected to assume the interim head coach role. The Vikings are currently 6-1 and ranked second in the conference standings.