Kris Olsen ‘blindsided’ by dismissal as Twin Valley football coach

Less than eight months after taking Twin Valley to its first District 3 football berth Kris Olsen is out as Raiders head coach, and he’s not sure why.

He was told late last month during a brief meeting with district administrators that they wanted the program to go in a “different direction.”

The Raiders went 6-5 last season, Olsen’s first as head coach. It was their first winning record in 14 years.

“This totally blindsided me,” said the 43-year Olsen. “I’m pretty good at reading situations; I did not see this coming.”

Twin Valley has long struggled to produce winning football teams. The program took an upturn six years ago when Dean Owens was named head coach. One of his first hires was Olsen, as his offensive coordinator.

The Raiders recorded 5-5 records in each of their first three seasons under Owens and Olsen; just a few years earlier they had gone 0-10 in consecutive seasons.

Brett Myers, an assistant principal and the acting athletic director at Twin Valley, could not be reached for comment. Myers was present when Olsen was dismissed.

The Twin Valley school board is not scheduled to meet until July 18, less than five weeks before the start of the season and three weeks before the start of football practice. It’s possible the board could act quickly to put a coach in place before July 18.

Myers, who won three District 3 championships as head coach at Middletown from 2016-18, could be a candidate for the job. His son Evan, a rising sophomore, was the starting quarterback last season.

If he ends up with the job Myers might have to patch together an coaching staff from scratch. Olsen said he expects that most of last year’s six assistant coaches will not return, especially in light of the nature of his dismissal.

Olsen, who had completed spring workouts and had just begun summer workouts, was stunned when he was called to a June 22 meeting and told he was out.

“This was definitely not my choice, and I told my players that, I told my staff that,” he said. “Twin Valley had something different in mind, and I wasn’t part of that plan. I was told the football program’s going to go in a different direction and I no longer had the job.

“They said there was nothing that me or my staff did wrong with preparation, with dealing with the kids, dealing with the football program in general . . . they had a different vision than what I was providing. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”

Despite playing with a small roster and a freshman at quarterback the Raiders produced wins last season over Conrad Weiser, Daniel Boone and Fleetwood, each of which qualified for postseason play. Twin Valley lost to Spring Grove 33-6 in the District 3 Class 5A Tournament.

Trey Freeman set the Berks record for career receiving yards and the Twin Valley record for career receptions; Dominic Caruso set the program record for career rushing yards and touchdowns.

Olsen said he met with athletic director John Guiseppe following the season for a standard program review and said there were no issues. (Guiseppe left Twin Valley earlier this year.)

“To be told that you’re done before you’re ready is tough,” Olsen said, “knowing that you didn’t do anything wrong. We did what was right for the kids. I’d like to think for the last six years that we got the most out of the kids that we had; I’d like to think that we started to get that program going in the right direction. That’s the frustrating part.”

The most difficult part of this, Olsen said, is he won’t be able to coach his son Everett, a rising sophomore. One of the reason he came to Twin Valley was for the experience of coaching his son.

“It was a great feeling after the game being able to celebrate the wins with him and console each other after the losses,” he said. “Of all this, that’s the toughest part, not being able to experience that again.”

Olsen, who played quarterback Dover High School and West Chester University, has taught government and economics in the Downingtown school district for 22 years. He said he is not interested in coaching again until Everett graduates.

Myers resigned at Middletown in December, 2020, and took a job in administration at Twin Valley in early 2021.

He did not close the door on coaching football, telling Eric Epler of Pennlive.com: “I love being a football coach and I still want to coach. I’m not done coaching.”

His Middletown teams went 73-22 over eight seasons, including the most successful five-year stretch in program history, when the Blue Raiders went 42-4 and reached the PIAA Class 3A championship game three straight years.

Their bid for a fourth straight district title in 2019 was stopped by Wyomissing, which has now won three straight championships.

Myers played at Middletown, graduating in 1993.