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The dean of WPIAL girls volleyball coaches is McGuffey's JoAnn Harshman, who is in her 34th season as a head coach. She coached one season at Avella before taking over at McGuffey. "They keep bringing me back," Harshman said. "I still enjoy coaching. There aren’t too many of us who have coached this long." Harshman is one of four current WPIAL coaches who have 30 years of head coaching experience. The others are Diane Geist, Mike McDonald, and Ron Kelly. Diane Geist is in her 33rd season at Knoch, while McDonald is in his 31st season at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Geist is coming off the best season of her career, as the Knights won WPIAL and PIAA titles for the first time in school history. Thomas Jefferson’s Ron Kelly is the fourth member of the 30-year head coaching club. Kelly is in his 20th year at Thomas Jefferson. He also coached 10 years at Ambridge. Below is a list of current coaches who have 10 or more years of head coaching experience in the WPIAL. These totals are for girls only, and for current head varsity coaches only. College coaching experience is not reflected in these totals, only high school. 34 - JoAnn Harshman (McGuffey, Avella) 33 - Diane Geist (Knoch) 31 - Mike McDonald (O.L. Sacred Heart) 30 - Ron Kelly (Thomas Jefferson, Ambridge) 29 - Terry Borkovic (Hopewell) 27 - Greg Dugan (Shenango, Slippery Rock, Laurel) 27 - Rick Watkins (Geibel Catholic) 25 - Yoko Nagao (West Allegheny, Upper St. Clair, Peters Twp.) 24 - Meghan Lucas (Butler) 21 - Mandy Hartman (Frazier) 21 - Jim Schall (Penn-Trafford) 21 - Brock Smith (Derry) 20 - Jason Ferri (Chartiers Valley, Moon, New Brighton) 20 - Kevin Hummert (Central Valley, Cornell, Seton-LaSalle, Shenango, Seneca Valley, Ambridge) 18 - Scott Sundgren (South Fayette) 18 - Doug Vandervort (Avonworth) 18 - Kevin Walters (Bishop Canevin, Mars, North Catholic) 17 - Karen Martini (Seneca Valley, Mars) 17 - Tom Phillips (Freeport) 16 - Christen Adels (Beaver C.C.) 16 - Jason Benkowski (South Side Beaver) 16 - Sean Cleary (Chartiers-Houston, Chartiers Valley, Vincentian) 15 - Stephanie Woodruff (Jefferson-Morgan, Avella) 14 - Mike Vavrek (Quaker Valley, Sto-Rox) 13 - Frank German (Yough) 13 - Chris Kelly (Baldwin, Peters Township) 13 - Drew Vosefski (Latrobe, Laurel Valley) 12 - Mary Ellen Ferragonio (Norwin) 12 - Mike Feorene (Franklin Regional, Norwin) |