Former football coach and his replacement among four to resign from Palmyra School District

PALMYRA, Mo. — The Palmyra School Board met in special session Thursday night and accepted the resignations of four staff members, including the former high school football coach and his replacement.

A press release issued Friday afternoon from the Palmyra School District said Mark Hoerr, Tyler Krietemeyer, Kevin Miles and Marty Smyser had resigned “effective immediately.”

“All I can say is the School Board accepted their resignations last night,” Superintendent Jason Harper said Friday afternoon. “Other than that, I have no comment.”

Both Miles and Krietemeyer were contacted Friday afternoon. Both had no comment on their resignations.

Harper told Muddy River News on March 21 that four staff members with the Palmyra School District were placed on paid leaves of absence. He said the School Board met that night in closed session.

“We’re just going to discuss where we are at and what could lie ahead,” Harper said at the time.

Miles had coached the Palmyra football team for 12 seasons, but he submitted his resignation to the Palmyra School Board during its Nov. 8 meeting. The Panthers were winless in 10 games this fall, officially forfeiting six games due to a self-reported violation of Missouri State High School Activities Association bylaws regarding player participation limits. 

Miles also received a one-game disciplinary suspension for season opener at Hallsville from the district administration as the “result of a situation that occurred in an unsupervised locker room.” A group of parents also addressed Palmyra High School administrators and the School Board regarding the culture surrounding Miles’ program. 

“These people dug in,” Miles told MRN Sports Editor Matt Schuckman at the time of his resignation. “I decided it wasn’t worth it. I’m done. I resigned and I’m going to get out and look at what to do next.”

Miles, who also was a physical education teacher at the high school, was hired in February to become the football coach and assistant athletic director at Salem (Mo.). High School. He will be the fifth head coach for the Tiger football program in the past six years.

The Palmyra School Board selected Krietemeyer in February to replace Miles as the head coach. Krietemeyer also taught social science at the high school.

Hoerr was an assistant coach on the football team. He taught social science at Palmyra Middle School. Smyser was an assistant principal at Palmyra High School.