Brandon Short says McKeesport football head coach should resign after assistant defends daughter's murderer

The school board in McKeesport has called a special meeting on Wednesday to decide the future of its football coaching staff. Before school officials meet, Brandon Short, a McKeesport football legend, is calling on head coach Matt Miller to step down. 

Short's life has been devastated by the 2021 murder of his daughter, Karli Short, and his unborn grandchild. He's outraged that an assistant coach and the head of the football booster organization testified as character witnesses for convicted murderer Isaac Smith. Brandon Short believes they used the credibility of the football program to defend the man who would be found guilty of the murder. 

"No one separated the program and the school from what those men said on the stand," Brandon Short told KDKA-TV. "And when the head coach doesn't speak, the silence gets filled. It reads like McKeesport football does support Isaac Smith, who killed my daughter."

Smith and the men who testified on his behalf are also members of the Church of Life in Christ, a controversial church whose congregants packed the courtroom on behalf of Smith during the trial. 

In a 2016 KDKA-TV investigation, we spoke with former members who accused its leader, Guy Miller, of practices including corporal punishment, shunnings and ex-communications. Guy Miller is also the father of Matt Miller. While Matt Miller did not testify for Smith, Brandon Short says he allowed church members to use the standing of the football program to defend a murderer.

And for this, Brandon Short says he should step down. 

"My issue isn't with punishing anyone for their religion or their affiliation with the church," Brandon Short said. "What concerns me is the silence."

"The head coach failed as a leader and should resign," Brandon Short continued. "Because I've heard no condolences. No, 'This doesn't represent McKeesport football or the high school. We're sorry for your loss.' There's been nothing, and it's not acceptable to me. And it shouldn't be acceptable to the community."

On Wednesday night, the school board will discuss a motion by member Matt Holtzman not to renew the assistant coaches. While there is no motion to relieve head coach Matt Miller of his duties, Holtzman said he would like him to step down. Sources told KDKA-TV earlier this month that head coach Matt Miller told the athletic director he was resigning but later rescinded that decision. He did not return phone calls asking for comment. 

Expectations for the team are high. Its senior running back, Kemon Spell, is regarded as one of the premier high school players. Some members of the board told KDKA-TV they're wary of a coaching shake-up. The board's president, Dave Seropian, said the head coach has his support.

"Coach Miller has never done anything that's intertwined with the church," Seropian told KDKA-TV. 

KDKA-TV was told the board will meet behind closed doors to discuss the matter on Wednesday night and then emerge to vote on whether to relieve the coaches. Brandon Short had requested to speak before the board, but that request was denied.