West York's Roger Czerwinski adjusts to Manheim Township AD job
Two days into his new job as Manheim Township athletic director, Roger Czerwinski called this summer one unlike any other as a parent.
Czerwinski spent the last seven years as West York's baseball coach, guiding it to consecutive PIAA championships in 2012 and '13. He had been the school's athletic director for nine years until he was approved at Township on July 14.
During the hiring process at Township, Czerwinski was busy coaching his son's travel baseball team. Cameron Czerwinski will be a freshman this fall at Red Lion, and his dad coached two of his teams: a legion and travel squad.
"This summer for me was the first time I ever had to coach my own son," Roger Czerwinski said. "I wouldn't take that back for anything. To watch him every single game and be at every practice, that's something I've missed for the last eight or nine years."
He also has 10- and 8-year-old daughters who swim.
They all factored into Czerwinski's decisions, and are why the former West York coach and AD has no desire to again work double duty — despite Manheim Township seeking a replacement for Bill Sassaman, its winningest baseball coach in program history.
In fact, he has interviews scheduled Thursday morning to search for Township's next baseball coach.
"My desire to leave had nothing to do with baseball," Czerwinski said. "It's a professional opportunity I think I can grow from and can benefit me and my family."
In June, when Czerwinski resigned as baseball coach, he stressed: "West York will always be a part of me. This place means so much to me. I've never had the public school feel, or community feel. People bought in to what we were trying to do and from there it took off. The stewardship the kids did, those memories make it so special."
He echoed those sentiments Wednesday.
Czerwinski was hired at West York after working in the private school sector in Maryland. A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native, he moved to Maryland shortly after college. Czerwinski and his family moved to Red Lion in 2002. A few years later, he was hired as West York's athletic director.
In Township, he will oversee the athletic department at a bigger school. As of the PIAA's last enrollment survey, Township has almost 1,400 students to West York's 730. The Blue Streaks compete in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, but that doesn't mean Czerwinski will be a stranger to his former league, the YAIAA.
Manheim Township travels to Red Lion for Week 2 of the high school football season.
"I'll be there," he said.
It's a convenient trip for Czerwinski, who plans to remain a Red Lion resident.
Contact Matt Goul at 771-2045.