Bellefonte Red Raiders football head coach Vaughn Donmoyer set to resign
The Red Raiders football program will soon have a changing of the guard.
Bellefonte football head coach Vaughn Donmoyer’s resignation is set to be on the Nov. 29 school board agenda, according to Bellefonte school board president Jeff Steiner. The school board meeting for Tuesday was rescheduled due to inclement weather.
In a text message, Donmoyer told the Centre Daily Times that he’s grateful to the Bellefonte Area School District for the opportunity to be head football coach over the past 18 months.
“I appreciate the athletes, parents, booster club members, and the administrators for their support of the program. I wish the very best for the seniors in their next chapter of their lives. I also wish the program success next fall on the football field,” he wrote.
The team struggled over the past two seasons, with a 3-17 overall record under Donmoyer and a 3-9 record in Mountain League play. The Red Raiders’ most recent win came on Sept. 23 against Philipsburg-Osceola in a 9-8 game. Bellefonte’s other two wins were against the Mounties on Sept. 3, 2021 (22-6) and Huntingdon on Oct. 8, 2021 (40-7).
At a recent school board meeting and a parent group meeting on Sunday, a number of parents were critical of Donmoyer and his staff for lack of communication between the players, non-regimented practices, the lack of film being watched by the team, weight training and involvement in the community.
Sean Rarrick, a Bellefonte football parent, raised his concerns at the school board meeting. He mentioned that “communication is very important” and something that he’d like to see be improved with the next coaching staff.
“Our main concern was the kids,” Rarrick told the CDT Thursday. “We all thank Mr. Donmoyer and his staff for taking the time to help our kids out and trying to improve Bellefonte football. Some things just didn’t work out.”
Another parent, Bikem Oskin, said her concerns stemmed from the junior varsity team’s opportunity to build chemistry.
“I would very much like to see more engagement between the coaches and the kids,” Oskin said. “I’d like to see a better, more cohesive team — more communication, more working out is what I want. It didn’t seem like they gelled very well. The freshman team got moved up to JV (junior varsity) and I was aware that the JV team was practicing with the varsity, but the JV team wasn’t the priority. I feel like some of the kids got left out. I just want the kids to have coaches that they can look up to and be able to follow and work well together.”
District Athletic Director Deb Moore did not respond to requests for comment.
Donmoyer replaced former Bellefonte head coach Shanon Manning, who left for the Central Mountain job in 2021. Under Manning, Bellefonte won two District 6 championships in 2017 and 2019 and was named the Central Pennsylvania Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year-North.
Reporter Keely Doll contributed to this report.
