Reno Saccocia has been the head football coach at Steubenville High School since 1983. He has won 311 football games, made 23 appearances in the state playoffs, and captured three Ohio state championships. That, apparently, is all that matters to the school board that covers the high school, because it just gave Saccocia — who also may have covered up the sexual assault of a teenage girl by two of his players, according to court documents, and is the likely subject of a grand jury investigation because of it — a two-year contract extension.
The extension is for an administrative services position, separate from a coaching contract. Salon’s Katie McDonough flagged the announcement buried in the local business section of the Ohio Valley Star:
Two-year administrative contracts for Charles Kokiko, administrator; Bryan Mills, assistant middle school principal; Reno Saccoccia, director of administrative services; Joseph Yanok, middle school principal; Melinda Young, director of programs; and Sara Elliot, school psychologist.
Covering up the sexual assault, which became front-page news across the nation this spring, would be a violation of Ohio law. But Saccocia’s players were so confident that he’d have their backs that the morning after the assault took place, Trent Mays, who along with Ma’Lik Richmond was found guilty of raping the teenage girl, texted a friend: “I got Reno. He took care of it and shit ain’t gonna happen, even if they did take it to court. Like he was joking about it so I’m not worried.”
A 16-year-old girl is assaulted, a player thinks “shit ain’t gonna happen” because he has a coach who will cover it up, and the coach willfully obliges. For that, the coach doesn’t get fired, but instead gets treated with the same “shit happens” attitude he apparently instilled in his players. There are no winners in Steubenville, no matter what Saccocia’s record on the football field says, because Steubenville is what America’s rape culture looks like.