romanowski back in news

[smazza]

Whether linebacker or youth coach, he's in people's faces

Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

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Bad-boy linebacker Bill Romanowski made his return to Bay Area football this fall as coach of his 12-year-old son's flag football team -- but only two games into the season, an on-field confrontation with a youngster on an opposing team has put the former 49er and Raider's job at risk.

The question is -- is he getting a bum rap because of his rep?

Romanowski, 40, who retired from the NFL in 2004, got into it last week with a seventh-grader from Lafayette who he felt was playing dirty against his Piedmont Highlanders, according to several people who were watching the game at a Lafayette middle school.

Romanowski's verbal outburst has prompted the Piedmont Recreation Department to reconsider whether it wants him to continue at the helm of its top-flight entry in a seventh-grade recreation league that plays mostly in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

"I'm very concerned, and we are dealing with it,'' said Mark Delventhal, director of the rec department.

Piedmont officials knew what they were getting when Romanowski volunteered to coach the Highlanders. On the one hand, they were getting a 16-year pro football veteran who, during his time with the Raiders, 49ers, Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles, earned four Super Bowl rings, made two Pro Bowls and appeared in 243 consecutive NFL games.

On the other hand, they were getting a longtime advocate of nutritional supplements who once tested positive for "the clear," an anabolic steroid allegedly provided to elite athletes by Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, of Burlingame. Company founder Victor Conte once allegedly told authorities that Romanowski was the first person to whom he distributed performance-enhancing drugs.

In 2003, as his playing days were winding down, Romanowski slugged Raiders teammate Marcus Williams during a practice, leaving the reserve tight end with a broken eye socket and blurry vision. Romanowski wound up paying $415,000 to settle Williams' lawsuit over the injury.

It was the last in a long line of inflammatory episodes, the most notorious of which may have been the time Romanowski spit in the face of 49ers wide receiver J.J. Stokes during a 1997 game.

But the seventh-graders on the Piedmont team were excited about having a real NFL pro coach them, and the Recreation Department bosses got calls from half a dozen parents in support of Romanowski. That was enough to persuade them to assign him to his son's team.

Which brings us to Thursday, when the Highlanders traveled through the Caldecott Tunnel to face a team at Lafayette's Stanley Middle School.

Witnesses say both sides were playing rough, and that Romanowski complained at halftime to the Lafayette team's coach.

Late in the game, one of the Lafayette kids tripped a Piedmont player -- or so it apparently seemed to Romanowski. People who were there say Coach Romo got in the face of the Lafayette seventh-grader, accusing him of playing dirty.

"That's cheating, and you can't win by cheating,'' Romanowski told the boy, according to the mom of one of the Piedmont players.

"It felt inappropriate -- but not scarily inappropriate,'' said the mom, who didn't want to be quoted by named. Another parent called it "bad coach behavior" but nothing way over the line.

Romanowski defended his conduct, saying he first became alarmed when his kids came off the field at halftime "with scratches on their necks, some bleeding, some bruised, and with cuts and scrapes -- every one of them.''

He said they had complained that a Lafayette player was responsible "and nothing is being done.''

So Romanowski said he had marched over to the Lafayette coach, who was huddled with his team, and let him know that "I would appreciate it if you would do something with your guy. ... Let's keep the game clean and within the rules.''

Then, late in the game, the same Lafayette player "leg whipped'' one of his players, who went down, Romanowski said. He went onto the field to check on his crying player, he said, then "walked over to the (Lafayette) boy and said, 'Buddy, I warned your coach at halftime this kind of stuff doesn't belong out here. You hurt my kid.' ''

Piedmont assistant coach Jason Curliano backed up Romanowski's version of events, saying Romanowski had even warned his own players earlier that if they retaliated, "you are not playing for the team.''

Curliano said Romanowski even hung around after the game, signing autographs for the Lafayette players.

But Adam Perry, the athletic director at Stanley Middle School, says his coach complained that Romanowski had charged onto the field against league rules. Perry fired off an e-mail to Piedmont officials letting them know that Romanowski would be barred from the field when the two teams meet again in Lafayette on Oct. 19.

"He should have known better -- he's played all his life,'' Perry said. "Coaches should be under control and shouldn't be coming on the field."

The matter is now in the hands of Piedmont rec boss Delventhal, who said he planned to have a sit-down with Romanowski this morning to talk about the Lafayette episode and his future.

Delventhal declined to get into specifics, calling it a personnel matter.

Incidentally, there were no video cameras filming Thursday's action -- no doubt if there had been, the footage would have shown up on the Internet by now.

"But you can be sure next time there will be 30 parents with video cameras,'' Perry said.

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Check out the new Matier & Ross Web page this week at SFGate.com/matierandross. Vote on whether Gavin Newsom should get a raise. Play the photo caption contest. Plus, get a sampling of the hits and kisses that come their way. And check out the Extra, Extra, Extra musings and insights of their many friends, including Rich "Big Vinny'' Lieberman and The Chronicle's Carla Marinucci and Don "Bad Reporter" Asmussen.

Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. They can also be heard on KGO Radio. Phil Matier can also be seen on KRON4 News. Got a tip? Call them at (415) 777-8815 or drop them an e-mail at matierandross@sfchronicle.com.

[Triple B]

Brilliant move, Romanowski coaching impressionable kids...... Maybe they can find a Cub Scout troop for Michael Jackson to lead.

[smazza]

or rep foley to  camp over night with boy scouts