A feud between West Mifflin Area School District Superintendent Patrick Risha and longtime girls' basketball Coach Phil Shar ended last night, when the school board voted, 5-4, to replace Mr. Shar.

While the vote effectively ended Mr. Shar's coaching career in West Mifflin, it also served as a measure of Mr. Risha's control over the district that he has guided since October 2006.

Mr. Shar and Mr. Risha have clashed on a number of issues in recent months, including Mr. Risha's plans for a new middle school and a possible tax hike next year.

The feud came to head on May 27, when Mr. Risha opened Mr. Shar's contract -- essentially vacating the girls head coaching position -- after the coach made disparaging comments about the superintendent to local newspapers.

Mr. Risha said he opened Mr. Shar's contract because "I cannot let any employee do what he did in the newspapers."

At last night's board meeting, which drew an overflow crowd of more than 200 people, the board voted to hire Mindy McClelland, who had been an assistant coach under Mr. Shar.

Voting to hire Ms. McClelland, were board member Ned Mrvos, Albert Graham, Michael Jakubovic, Diane Olasz and Kathleen Bracco. Voting no were board members Michael Price, John Donis, Richard Fialkovich and Edward Schueler.

"I'd like the people of West Mifflin to know the five board members who stabbed me in the back," Mr. Shar said after the meeting.

From the start, it was a contentious and very confusing meeting. Agendas were not distributed to the public until just minutes before the vote on the coaching position. And as the vote was being taken, most in the audience were unaware it was happening.

Before the vote, eight people spoke during the public comments portion.

Mr. Shar did not request to speak during the public comment portion.

Perhaps the strongest statements came from Lynn Flore, whose daughter will be a freshman basketball player in the fall.

She exhorted the board to rehire Mr. Shar, claiming that the program has already been set back because of its lack of practice time -- and summer league games -- throughout the last few months.

Mr. Shar's wife, Diane, and brother, Les, also spoke.

All supported Mr. Shar and, as speaker after speaker noted how the coach had been a strong influence on a player or on the basketball program, Mr. Shar stood in the back of the room, his back to the wall. Applause filled the room after each speaker was completed, most of them being cutoff in midstream after a 3-minute limit.

But, toward the end of the meeting, Mrs. Olasz, a board member who has a daughter on the team, spoke out against Mr. Shar. She claimed Mr. Shar's recent actions were selfish.

"Phil Shar has done wonderful things for the basketball program," she said. "But he has been saying, 'Look what I've done, look at me.' I have found, throughout all of this, all his comments have been rude and arrogant."

Mr. Shar attempted to respond to Mrs. Olasz, but the board did not permit it.

Among Mr. Shar's previous criticisms of Mr. Risha were that Mr. Risha often works from his home in Belle Vernon, about 18 miles away from his district office.

Mr. Risha eventually acknowledged to the Post-Gazette that he works from home and that district administrators make trips to his home for meetings. But he has said the arrangement was approved by board members because he suffers from weight-related health issues.

When residents tried to question the board last night about Mr. Risha working from home, board members refused to respond to them.

Soon thereafter, the meeting adjourned and board members declined further comment. Mr. Risha also was at the meeting but declined to comment.

Mr. Shar was the coach of the West Mifflin girls' program the past 19 seasons, posting a 379-153 record and leading his teams to the WPIAL playoffs 18 times, winning the Class AAA title in 2001.