Pleasant Valley High School interim boys’ soccer Coach Alex Wunder had the support of players, parents and administrators Thursday night, but he did not have the support of a majority of school board members.

The board voted 4-3 against appointing Wunder as the adviser of the intramural soccer program, one short of the majority needed.

Wunder took over as head coach of the boys’ soccer team on an interim basis last fall after head coach Chris Pachuta died unexpectedly. A former player, he served as an assistant coach for 11 years.

Earlier this month administrators recommended he be appointed intramural adviser, but the board rejected it.

His players and their parents packed the Pleasant Valley school board Tuesday night urging the board to approve him the second time around. With one board member absent and his father abstaining, the board did not have enough votes to appoint Wunder to the position. Players, parents and board members all expressed shock following the vote.

“As far as I’m concerned, a vote no is a retaliation against these young men here, and that’s a disgrace,” board member Robert Serfass said.

“I’m usually never at a loss for words, however I am at a loss for words because my heart breaks for all of you,” said board President Susan Kresge.

At the beginning of the meeting, players and parents spoke about how Wunder helped the players cope with the tragic loss of their coach and wound up posting one of the best seasons in the program’s history.

“Last year proved Coach Wunder had the necessary passion and skill set to remain the boys soccer adviser. Both past and present members of the team stand by him fully,” said Connor Covart.

Wunder spoke about being proud of his players not only on the field, but in attaining one of the highest GPAs of any team in the school.

The students then waited to hear their coach’s fate. With a full agenda, they had to wait another two hours.

When the intramural adviser positions came up on the agenda, board member Laura Jecker said she wanted the board to meet behind closed doors before she voted.

When they returned from the session, Piperato said he wanted to discuss nepotism and conflicts of interest because he has heard accusations that the board is guilty of it, but doesn’t believe they are true.

“To my knowledge, since I have been here this has not been an issue. I have not seen any kind of nepotism or conflict of interest,” Piperato said.

He asked board solicitor Mark Fitzgerald to explain the legal definition because he thought members of the public and even board members misunderstood it.

The district has a nepotism clause in its employment policy, which says a board member can’t vote for a family member to be hired, and they can’t influence board members to vote for them.

Fitzgerald said there is no definition of nepotism in state law.

The board then split their vote and Wunder’s appointment failed. Russ Gould, Robert Serfass, Susan Kresge and Kenneth Cocuzzo voted for Wunder. Laura Jecker, Donna Yozwiak and Delbert Zacharias voted against. Dan Wunder abstained. Len Peeters was not present.

Gould said he wanted to know why the board members who voted against made their decision.

Yozwiak said she wanted to appoint a full-time head coach in the near future. Piperato responded by saying he didn’t see why that would affect the intramural adviser.

Jecker said she heard from some parents that last year, the intramurals weren’t conducted efficiently. That prompted some heckling from the soccer families in attendance.

“I had enough that I was concerned and that’s why I’m voting no,” she said.

Delbert Zacharias said he votes the way he wants to and not the way other people tell him to.

Wunder’s supporters on the board were not impressed.

Cocuzzo said the board members who voted against were losing sight of the fact that they were hurting the players.

Serfass said the board should stop listening to anonymous letters and phone calls from people who won’t identify themselves, because it only takes a few people to wreck someone’s reputation.

Dan Wunder said his only comment was that the speakers made him feel like a proud father.

When the building principals gave their reports to the board, high school Principal Matthew Triolo got emotional during his board report talking about Wunder. Triolo said that Wunder was a bright spot for the soccer players. He recalled Wunder asking him to join him in the locker room the first time he addressed the players after Pachuta’s death. He said he was struck by how the players looked up to Wunder.

“Leadership is not about X’s and O’s. Leadership is about being able to lead young men, and that’s what he did,” Triolo said.

He added he has never had a parent complain about Wunder as an assistant or interim head coach.

Piperato said that in his career he had never seen a board reject an intramural club adviser that was on the agenda.

At the end of the meeting during public comment, Wunder’s assistant coaches spoke and said they would step up for the intramurals.

But Chris Lusto, an assistant coach and alumnus warned the board that other coaches may decide they don’t want to take a job at Pleasant Valley because of the way they dealt with Wunder.

“Who’s going to want to coach here if this is the response, if this is the climate?” Lusto said.

Wunder himself pledged to keep coaching winter programs and intramurals, whether he was approved by the school board or not.

“I now as the interim head coach will volunteer my time to keep this program running until we have a head coach,” Wunder said.