FRANKLIN TWP. — Recently suspended Delsea Regional High School football coach Sal Marchese Jr. was suspended from coaching for the remainder of the 2013-2014 school year following an special meeting held by the district's board of education on Saturday morning.

Marchese will be suspended from coaching both football and track and field at the school until July 1 of this year, according to Delsea’s superintendent, Piera Gravenor, and will be eligible to begin coaching again at the start of the 2014-2015 school year.

While he is prohibited from coaching the two programs, Gravenor added that Marchese will be allowed to teach physical education and health at the school this year.

“He will be back in school on Monday,” said Gravenor.

In addition, the board will withhold any potential for raises in Marchese’s 2014-2015 contract as the district is still in talks with the New Jersey Education Association about raises for teachers in the upcoming school year.

When the board went into closed session to discuss the matter, Marchese made a brief appearance decked out in full Delsea attire, including a sweatshirt and hat embroidered with the program’s logo on it.

Marchese did not talk to the media. While walking out of the media room at the Delsea Regional Middle School where the meeting was held, he appeared seemingly dejected after talking to members of the board, only saying “I shouldn’t talk” when pressed about the proceedings.

The suspension stems from allegations of academic impropriety, with an anonymous letter sent to various news outlets and the board of education accusing him of falsifying grades on behalf of a football player in his program.

While board members would not comment on the allegations against Marchese, Gravenor did say “there was never any eligibility in question,” referring to allegations that Marchese falsified grades to keep a player in his program eligible to play football.

"It never rose to that level," she added, which supports an account made by two unidentified sources who claimed the indiscretion was regarding a player's weight-training assessment in a physical education class that did not include grade-fixing or an eligibility issue.

Gravenor also specified that the investigation will remain an internal issue and that the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the body that governs eligibility standards and practices for high school sports in the state, will not become involved in a larger investigation.

“It really wasn’t about football,” said Gravenor. “I think it’s pretty clear that he knows I don’t want him anywhere near coaching.”

She added that the board had discussed a number of options when contemplating how to move forward with their decision, including possibly suspending Marchese from coaching in 2014-2015 as well, but said the board “feels it’s a substantial punishment.”

“We put a lot of time into this,” said Board President Mario Christina. “We wanted to get it right.”

The coach has been a long-standing monument in Delsea’s sports program and in the school, as he has been the head coach of the school’s football team for the past 21 years with a career record of 166-56-1 and four South Jersey titles in the past six seasons.

Delsea most recently wrapped up last season under Coach Marchese with a 10-2 record and a win over Barnegat en route to their second straight Group III championship.

Gravenor would not speak about the conversation that Marchese and the board had during closed session, but said the coach had reached out to the board Friday night about being present during the closed session and added that this was his first time he came before the board since his suspension when the investigation began.

“He deserved to have that say,” said Christina, referencing the discussions behind closed doors the board had with the coach.

Members of the board seemed to be feeling a mixture of relief and worry about their decision, as many breathed an audible sigh of relief while still bearing grim looks on their faces.

The decision comes after a Wednesday meeting when several former players, current teachers and parents of current players came to speak on Marchese’s behalf, imploring the board to be lenient on the coach with many asking for the board to reinstate him.

However, Gravenor said that she could not let public opinion help her and the board form an opinion as to the length of the punishment, saying “I have to be impartial.”

“This took a month to discuss. This has been a difficult time for the board,” said Gravenor. “Sal Marchese is a human being just like all of us.”

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Contact staff writer Phil Davis at 856-686-3631 or pdavis@southjerseymedia.com