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<p>Pat Keating resigned abruptly Tuesday as Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s football coach after 10 seasons due to a change in his teaching position in the school district.</p><p>&#8220;It is with tremendous sadness that I must resign as the head football coach for Wyoming Valley West,&#8221; Keating said in a prepared statement. &#8220;The past ten years having the opportunity to work with such tremendous young men and their families was an awesome and humbling experience. This past Wednesday, June 12, 2019, the Wyoming Valley West School Board passed a final budget eliminating my current teaching position of high school librarian. Next year, I will be transitioning back to my roots in elementary education to teach second grade at State Street Elementary School.</p><p>&#8220;Within the confines of this new teaching position, I can not effectively meet the demands to be a head coach at the high school level and facilitate an effective, well-run elementary classroom. It is not fair to kids on either side of that equation to not have 100 percent of my best effort every day, and I know one of the two sides would suffer if I tried to do both.&#8221;</p><p>The resignation comes at an awkward time as Wyoming Valley Conference football programs are conducting voluntary offseason activities which include weightlifting, conditioning and 7-on-7 competitions.</p><p>Keating said he tried to come up with a way to juggle elementary teaching and coaching but couldn&#8217;t find a satisfactory solution. Valley West elementary schools dismiss over an hour later than the high school.</p><p>Longtime assistant coach Jack Baranski has been named interim head coach. Baranski, who teaches at the high school, has been with the program since 2000.</p><p>&#8220;I told the troops at two o&#8217;clock today,&#8221; said Baranski, who was supervising weightlifting when reached. &#8220;I told them we&#8217;re in an unfortunate situation, but adversity brings out the best in people. There is a lot stability in the staff, there&#8217;s a lot of leadership in the room and we&#8217;re going to move forward.&#8221;</p><p>School board president Joe Mazur said a decision on a full-time replacement will be made once he meets with the board upon his return from vacation.</p><p>Under Keating, Valley West won three District 2 Class 4A championships (2010, 2013, 2015), a District 2 Class 5A championship (2017) and an Eastern Conference Class 4A championship (2012) despite often battling bigger schools from the Lehigh Valley area in the postseason.</p><p>The Spartans made their only state appearance beyond a subregional championship game during the Keating era in 2017, losing in the quarterfinal of the PIAA 5A playoffs to eventual state champion Archbishop Wood. Valley West finished 5-5 this past season, failing to make the D2-5A playoffs and declining an opportunity to play for the Eastern Conference 5A-6A championship.</p><p>Valley West compiled an 81-35 record under Keating, who replaced coaching legend George Curry after the 2008 season. Keating was also the head of the WVC Football Coaches Association.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to think that we made great strides over the last decade in making Wyoming Valley West football a premiere program,&#8221; Keating said. &#8220;I&#8217;d like to thank all of my coaches for giving me their dedication and countless hours of work. I&#8217;d like to thank all of the booster parents who gave time out of their busy lives to help make our program the best it could be, and most importantly I&#8217;d like to thank all of my players for making sacrifices to be successful, believing in me, and giving me the best ten years of my life.&#8221;</p><p>Keating&#8217;s resignation continues a tumultuous off-season for WVC football.</p><p>The conference had to reconfigure its schedule midway through the two-year scheduling cycle when Wilkes-Barre Area decided to merge Coughlin, GAR and Meyers into one team. Northwest, the WVC&#8217;s only Class A football program, recently decided to leave the WVC in football for the 2020 season to play in the Mid-Penn Conference where it will face opponents closer to its size.</p><p>The 15-team conference will also have new coaches at Berwick (Carmen DeFrancesco), Crestwood (Ryan Arcangeli) and Hanover Area (Rick Hummer). Former Coughlin coach Ciro Cinti will run the new Wilkes-Barre Area team.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West head coach Pat Keating.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_WVW-CoachKeating_CMYK-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley West head coach Pat Keating.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_WVWteam-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pat Keating (center), shown here with his District 2 championship squad that went undefeated in the 2015 regular season, is stepping down after 10 seasons as coach of the Spartans. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_WVWteam-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pat Keating (center), shown here with his District 2 championship squad that went undefeated in the 2015 regular season, is stepping down after 10 seasons as coach of the Spartans. </caption1><photoCredit1>John Erzar | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. FOOTBALL: Pat Keating steps down as coach at Wyoming Valley West