Tom McCarroll sees his job as Lehighton Area High School varsity football coach as much more than x’s and o’s.

Standing before the district’s school board Monday night, McCarroll said making a lasting impact on the lives of the young men and women in his program is a far greater responsibility.

McCarroll will have to wait, however, to find out if he will get a 13th year on the Lehighton sidelines after the board tabled his reappointment for the 2024 season via 6-2 vote. Only directors Barbara Bowes and Heather Neff voted against tabling the vote to rehire McCarroll.

Board members said little as to why McCarroll wouldn’t be approved Monday along with all of Lehighton’s other fall sports head coaches, but director Sean Gleaves acknowledged hearing “second-hand” about complaints from parents.

“When I see a lot of people in the community turn out to support a guy like this, I don’t know that I can make a decision tonight,” Gleaves said. “I don’t want to drag it out forever, but I don’t feel like I can make an educated decision right now.”

Before the vote to table his rehiring, McCarroll spoke passionately about his time at the helm of Lehighton’s football program. While he acknowledged recent seasons have come with mixed results on the field, it’s the life lessons instilled in his players and lifelong relationships forged with them that he is most proud of.

“I know wins and losses is one of the metrics you look at,” he told the board, “but I think in high school athletics, there has to be something a little bit more important. Coaches often talk about career highlights. My highlights come in a wedding invitation or when a kid who graduated five years ago brings his newborn daughter to practice and says coach, I just want you to meet my new child. We teach them to believe in each other, how to develop good work ethic, how to fight for the guys next to you and how to be accountable. All of those things help them become better football players, but they also help them become better citizens, dads, husbands and employees.”

Several of McCarroll’s current and former players, as well as their parents, came to Monday’s school board meeting in support of their coach.

Tyler Cann, who graduated in 2016 and went on to play linebacker and defensive back at Geneva College, touted McCarroll’s loyalty.

“There isn’t a guy who is more passionate about his players or who will hold them more accountable,” Cann said.

McCarroll led Lehighton to an 11-1 record in 2015 and 12-1 record in 2017 with District 11 title game appearances in both seasons.

“He could have gone to a lot of places after that,” Cann said, “but he stayed at Lehighton because he’s loyal.”

Cody Scherer, who quarterbacked that 2017 Lehighton team, recalled a text message the team received from McCarroll at 3:44 a.m. following the heartbreaking district championship game defeat.

“Instead of worrying about himself, he wrote to us letting us know how proud he was of us and how much he loved us,” Scherer said. “I’ve had countless coaches over the years and only one checks in on me and how myself and my family are doing.”

Since that winning season of 2017, the team’s record is 15-47.

Layne Roberts, father of a current Lehighton football player, told the board that victories aren’t always earned in the short term.

“Sometimes the wins don’t show up for years down the road when these kids become adults and then you see the impact a coach has had on them,” Roberts said. “Those wins come from a foundation that a teacher or coach puts in place. They grow from that and become better adults.”

Lehighton’s school board did not discuss McCarroll’s future during its workshop meeting two weeks ago when voting items are usually hashed out.

“We didn’t have all of the information we requested at that time,” Board President Jeremy Glaush said.

Glaush said while the board does have that information now, it can’t discuss what it is due to it being a personnel issue.