Dirschberger was found guilty in March of charges that included third-degree rape. The charges stemmed from an incident in 2017 during Dirschberger’s time as Erie County Social Services Commissioner. His sentence also includes ten years of post-release supervision following the prison sentence.
A week-long trial in March ended when a jury found Dirschberger guilty of rape, criminal sexual assault, and criminal sexual acts. The charges came about following allegations that Dirschberger engaged in non-consensual sexual conduct with a female subordinate on a business trip.
Dirschberger resigned from his role with Erie County in December 2017 and pled not guilty to the charges in January 2018.
The head coach at Niagara for twenty-two years, Dirschberger is the winningest coach in Purple Eagles program history. He led the program to the NCAA tournament in 1998 and was twice named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference coach of the year, in 1997 and 2007.
Following his retirement as head coach at Niagara in 2012, Dirschberger coached multiple sports at the high school level and served as an assistant coach at Canisius College. He had returned to Niagara as an assistant coach for the 2018 season, but was placed on administrative leave when the charges surfaced and did not rejoin the coaching staff.
Information from WKBW in Buffalo was used in this report.
