Seasoned leader
Keith Jeffries helped get the Uniontown football team headed in the right direction.
The Red Raiders will now look to veteran coach Tim Bukowski to keep the Red Raiders on an upward trend.
Bukowski, who guided Southmoreland into the WPIAL playoffs in each of the last three seasons, was hired as Uniontown鈥檚 head football coach Monday night at the school board meeting by a unanimous 9-0 vote.
鈥淲e鈥檙e super-excited to have Coach Tim aboard,鈥� Uniontown athletic director and former assistant football coach Harry Kaufman said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 had a lot of success in the past in developing programs or rebuilding programs, like at Southmoreland. We鈥檙e looking forward to the extended success we strongly feel he can have here at Uniontown.鈥�
Jeffries took over as head coach when the Red Raiders were in the midst of a 34-game losing streak, the longest in the WPIAL at the time, and had a roster of 21 players. He guided Uniontown to victory in his second game as head coach and led them to a 15-20 record over the past four years while building up participation.
鈥淚 think Coach Jeffries and Harry did a great job of building the numbers back up in the program,鈥� Bukowski said. 鈥淥bviously they left the WPIAL a few years ago when the program was in a bad place but the numbers are a lot better now. It looks like just from the offseason workouts that have been going on there鈥檚 a lot of excitement in the program now.鈥�
Uniontown has played as an independent the past four years 鈥� it is one of four Fayette County independent teams along with Albert Gallatin, Brownsville and Connellsville 鈥� but Bukowski said the Red Raiders have a tentative goal of reapplying for reinstatement into the WPIAL for the 2026-27 season.
鈥淚 think the plan is to get back into the WPIAL after next season,鈥� Bukowski said. 鈥淗opefully everything goes smooth and that鈥檚 where we end up.鈥�
Bukowski has 32 years of coaching at the high school level under his belt.
鈥淚 started at Monessen, my alma mater,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 also coached at Charleroi, Clairton, Ringgold and Cal U where I was the running backs coach, before Southmoreland.鈥�
Bukowski played a key role in the resurrection of the Scotties football program.
鈥淚 coached there for seven years with the last three as the head coach,鈥� said Bukowski. 鈥淲hen Dave Keefer got the (head coaching) job I was his offensive coordinator. They had finished the season before with 14 players. We had 43 players last year so I鈥檓 well aware of what it takes to recruit your school district and get your athletes out for the team.
鈥淚鈥檒l have two of the guys with me that coached with me at Southmoreland so they know what it takes as well. I鈥檝e been running the offense ever since I was at Clairton. Dave Wojtanowski will be my defensive coordinator and Tubby Hall, who鈥檚 a running back/linebackers coach, will be with me. Joe Hazel has been the interim coach at Uniontown since Keith stepped down and will be on our staff also.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really excited to get things going at Uniontown. I鈥檓 actually meeting with the team tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.鈥�
Bukowski is looking forward to working with Kaufman.
鈥淗arry Kaufman is a good man and has been so great throughout this whole process, I can鈥檛 wait to work with him,鈥� Bukowski said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a football guy and he鈥檚 officiated some of my games in the past so he knows how I handle myself.鈥�
The 57-year-old Bukowski was confident after his interview at Uniontown.
鈥淵ou get that feel when you leave if you did well or not,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 felt that they really ran a nice interview the way they conducted it and I felt comfortable when I left that I had a good shot to get the nod.鈥�
Bukowski has already seen some players on the Red Raiders roster close up.
鈥淚鈥檝e been coaching a seven-on-seven team and we actually have five or six Uniontown players on our squad and actually the middle school coach (Hazel) who will be one of my assistants helped me coach that team.鈥�
Bukowski hopes to continue to mine talent out of the school district.
鈥淯niontown is very successful obviously in basketball and you have to have athletes to win and we need to get those athletes, those big guys to come out for the football team,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 look at their football roster and I see talent and I see size so we鈥檙e just hoping we can develop it more and keep it going the way Keith and Harry have it headed and keep getting more participation.
鈥淚鈥檓 very confident that my staff will be able to do that.鈥�
Bukowski and his wife Laurel, a teacher at Ringgold, have been married for 34. They have two sons, Cole, 30, and Noah, 27.