Results expected in investigation of Butler Area basketball coach

The Butler Area School District board on Monday will learn the results of an investigation into a high school coach's treatment of her players.

Some parents of players on the girls basketball team complained that Dorothea Epps is “aggressive on the sidelines, to the point of bullying the girls,” board member Bill Halle has said.

Epps, the team's head coach since 2003 and an assistant for nine years before that, declined to comment.

The board in March hired a Pittsburgh attorney, Marie Milie Jones of the Jones Passodelis firm, to conduct the investigation.

She will present her findings to the board privately, though solicitor Tom King said the board might hold a vote afterward.

Halle said he thinks the report will have to be damaging to Epps for her job to be in danger.

Epps, 53, is a part-time employee in the district. Her full-time job is with the U.S. Postal Service.

“Unless the report comes back with very specific information that would call for her dismissal, I really can't imagine that happening,” Halle said.

No other board members could be reached for comment.

Before hiring Jones, administrators interviewed parents and team members, King said.

The district came to believe an investigation by a neutral party was necessary, he said.

Epps' teams have qualified for the playoffs several times, though the Golden Tornado team struggled to a 7-15 finish last season, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Jones, who did not return phone calls, is a member of the Duquesne University board of trustees.

Her legal expertise includes civil rights and employment law, commercial litigation and professional liability, according to the firm's website.

Rick Wills is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7944 or rwills@tribweb.com.