Text messages, emails and audio recordings shine light on events leading to dismissal of Jacob Yorg
FRONTENAC, MO – With his new St. Joseph’s girls basketball team playing extremely well, coach Jacob Yorg started to plan for an upcoming battle with seven-time defending state champion Incarnate Word.
From 2022-24, only four teams came within six points of defeating Incarnate Word. Yorg was the opposing coach for three of those games.
But less than one week before St. Joseph’s was scheduled to play Incarnate Word, and with the Angels sporting a 9-3 overall record, Yorg was suddenly fired as St. Joseph’s head basketball coach.
In a statement to Metro Sports STL, St. Joseph’s president Marcia Niedringhaus wrote, “Dr. Yorg is no longer the head coach of the varsity basketball team at St. Joseph’s Academy but will continue in his valued academic teaching role at our school. JV coach Moe Wilke ’94 and Assistant Coach Kelly McLaughlin ’17 have assumed interim head coaching responsibilities through the remainder of the season. We will begin a search for a permanent head coach this Spring.”
In regards to the timing and details of the decision, Niedringhaus wrote, “I cannot tell you anything beyond this statement, as we do not comment on speculation or personnel matters. Thank you.”
Text messages, emails and audio recordings obtained by Metro Sports STL are shining light on the events that led to Yorg’s dismissal.
Yorg led the John Burroughs’ girls basketball program to two state championships in the previous three years before accepting the head coaching position this season at St. Joseph’s Academy – the school where he has taught college-credit psychology and college-credit sociology for the past six years.
Not long into his tenure as St. Joseph’s coach, Yorg began receiving hostile messages from parents, mostly regarding playing time.
A Dec. 13 text message from a senior parent claimed Yorg had brought about his daughter’s “complete destruction” and had “ruined her,” by not considering her for a captain’s position and by starting her sister ahead of her in a game.
The closing words of that message read, “Good job, pal.”
A parent of a junior insisted the reason Yorg was not playing his daughter regularly was “personal,” despite the player acknowledging she was still trying to build endurance after recovering from an injury.
Both parents accused Yorg of damaging their daughter’s mental health. One equated the lack of playing time to “psychological abuse.”
“In my opinion, that should have been stopped immediately,” said Matt Salviccio, the top assistant coach on the St. Joseph’s bench during Yorg’s short tenure. “(Administrators) should have laid the hammer down and said, ‘We don’t put up with this.’”
During a Dec. 28 game against Parkway South at Principia High, a parent stood directly across from the St. Joseph’s bench, pointed at Yorg and berated him during game action.
“I tell you, he was stressed out. He was nervous all the time about these parents,” Salviccio said. “He was scared they might do something. He’d say, ‘You never know what they’re going to do.’”
Yorg brought concerns about inappropriate parent behavior to the attention of St. Joseph’s athletic director Maureen McVey several times, starting with the first game of the season at Marquette.
During a Dec. 31 meeting, McVey assured Yorg, “Don’t fear for your job,” adding that she and Principal of Student Affairs Anna Hotop were “100 percent behind” him, yet little was done to address his concerns and administrator attendance at road games was rare.
On Jan. 15, seven weeks after the vitriol began, the senior parent sent Yorg a text message that began, “Please stop f—king with (player’s name). Just stop.” It ended with the phrase “Check Mate.”
Yorg forwarded the message to McVey with the question, “How long do I have to deal with these messages?”
McVey responded, “I will deal with him first thing tomorrow. He will be dealt with.”
On the court, St. Joseph’s continued its outstanding season. The Angels won both games during a trip to Fort Myers, Florida – one against a top 5-ranked team from Massachusetts and the other over a defending state champion from Florida.
“I sat down and had lunch with parents in Florida and they didn’t mention one thing about Jacob,” Salviccio said. “They did mention that the girls played very, very well. They were nothing but pleasant. They were happy.”
On the flight home, Yorg began preparations for a difficult stretch of games that included 2024 state semifinalist Rock Bridge and perennial powerhouse Incarnate Word.
The team returned home on Monday, Jan. 20. They practiced Tuesday and defeated Notre Dame Wednesday to increase their record to 9-3.
On Thursday, Jan. 23, Yorg was informed he was being fired as coach.
In that meeting Yorg was told, “Ultimately, the parents do have a say in it.” The situation was referred to as “a tornado” and the decision to terminate Yorg was made “not to aggravate the situation any further” and “to get out of this situation making sure everyone is unscathed.”
Questions by Metro Sports STL regarding how much influence parents have in determining the direction of the St. Joseph’s basketball program and whether any threats were made towards Yorg or St. Joseph’s Academy went unanswered by school administrators.
“It surprised me, but it didn’t shock me. I knew the pressure was building,” Salviccio said. “I don’t think it was a cause issue. I think it was, ‘This is a headache and I’m just going to take some aspirin by cutting Jacob loose.’”
Salviccio was asked by McVey to remain as interim head coach, but he declined.
Since Yorg’s dismissal, St. Joseph’s is 3-4, including a 20-point loss to Rock Bridge, a 40-point loss to Incarnate Word and a seventh place finish in the eight-team Webster Winter Challenge.
Yorg, who remains a teacher at St. Joseph’s Academy, will serve as a consultant with the John Burroughs girls basketball team for the remainder of the season while watching his former Bombers’ players flourish at the college level.
Two seniors from the John Burroughs 2023-24 state championship team that Yorg coached, Monet Witherspoon and Allie Turner, have exploded onto the college scene as freshmen.
Witherspoon is Tufts University’s second leading scorer and has been named Rookie of the Week three times by the New England Women’s Basketball Association. Turner has earned Freshman of the Week in the West Coast Conference seven times in her first season at Gonzaga University.
“(Yorg) ran a strict program with accountability, college-level intensity and the understanding of what it takes to be a state champion. He trained the girls to the preparation of college-level basketball,” Salviccio said.
He added, “He never mistreated the girls, and I’ll lay on that grave as long as I have to. He treated them with the utmost respect. I truly think he got a bad deal.”
Related Story: https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/sports/high-school/2024/01/08/laney-girls-basketball-coach-chinyere-bell-resigns-2023/72096062007/
Sounds like there might be more to this story. Parents complain all the time and folks are not fired, especially mid-season.
Oh they are in private schools where money talks.