June 1st, 2017 by WCBC Radio

West Virginia state superintendent of schools Steven L. Paine has ordered that Frankfort head football coach Kevin Whiteman be suspended for 16 months as a result of accusations of inappropriate conduct with three students. The Mineral Tribune reports Whiteman has filed an appeal against that decision, however, and so his future with the Mineral County School System is once again in limbo. Paine issued the order on Thursday, April 25, with the suspension to be effective 16 months from that date. Whiteman filed his appeal last week. Whiteman has been on administrative leave since early 2016, with the Mineral County Board of Education approving that suspension on March 4, 2016, pending the outcome of an investigation into the allegations. Whiteman is accused of making inappropriate comments to three students on separate occasions. Tuesday, the county board was scheduled to conduct a hearing on possible termination of Whiteman’s contract, but the item was stricken from the agenda – which was written prior to Whiteman’s appeal – “until we get some more information,” according to superintendent Shawn Dilly. The fate of the Frankfort coach has been in limbo for quite sometime, with some news sources even reporting that the long-time coach had been cleared of the accusations when a Mineral County Grand Jury failed to indict him last year. Assistant coach Craig Scott took over the reigns of the Falcon football team in the interim, but whether he will continue in that capacity when training begins in August is unclear.