MOUNT VERNON — Only one week into the high school football season and the Danville Blue Devils are already undergoing a couple of major changes. First, quarterback Marcus Magers broke his arm in the season opener. Now, Danville physical education teacher and head football coach Jack O’Rourke has been placed on paid administrative leave.
O’Rourke, who took over the Blue Devil program in 2007, was involved in a personal domestic incident on Sunday, which led to his leave.
“While the investigation is ongoing, he has been placed on leave and will remain so until the completion of the investigation,” said Danville Schools Superintendent Dan Harper.
Harper went on to say that the incident did not involve any student-athletes at Danville, nor did it involve other staff members. It was personal in nature. According to Harper, O’Rourke has not been involved in any other incidents of this nature while being employed by Danville.
With the football season ongoing, assistant coach Charlie Duncan, a Danville graduate, will assume O’Rourke’s duties. Danville won its season opener, 56-9, on Saturday night at Lancaster Fisher Catholic.
“We’ve appointed Charlie Duncan to be interim head coach until the situation is resolved,” said Harper. “Practice is going on as scheduled, and we are preparing for Friday night.”
For the players, Monday brought a sense of shock.
“We addressed the team and told them there were some issues going on,” said Duncan. “We told them we had to keep focused, and they’ve done that pretty well. They feel for the situation and they are worried about their coach, but we have business ahead of us.
“We’ve pulled tighter together, and we know that with the loss of our quarterback and being without our head coach right now, we have to pull together and help each other out. I think we’ve done that well.”
The board of education met in a special session Thursday night to review the situation. No action was taken.
“Right now, the investigation is being conducted by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Pending the outcome of the investigation, the district will act accordingly,” said Harper.
O’Rourke was not available and a representative of the O’Rourke family also declined to comment.
