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Archbishop Carroll track coach runs into allegations of inappropriate conduct

Archdiocese of Philadelphia has placed John Mooney on administrative leave, officials said, after an alleged relationship with a minor came to light.

THE MAN RESPONSIBLE for guiding every runner through winter, spring and fall at Archbishop Carroll High School has been placed on administrative leave after recent allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a minor student.

The school in Radnor, Delaware County, received information Monday from the Pennsylvania Department of Child and Youth Services that John Mooney, head coach of outdoor and indoor track and cross country, had "inappropriate conduct with a minor," according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

"The allegation does not concern a current student of the school. He is not a teacher and was not coaching at other Catholic schools," spokesman Kenneth A. Gavin said in the statement.

The allegations come a little more than two years after the school's former athletic director, Francis Murphy, was charged with unlawful contact with a minor, promoting prostitution and corruption of minors, after trying to solicit sex with a male 11th-grade student in Montgomery County on Facebook. He was sentenced to five to 23 months in jail in December.

Mooney, whose age and address were unavailable, has not been charged with a crime, but the Delaware County District Attorney's Office and Radnor police are investigating the allegations, Gavin said.

Mooney is on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Gavin said. A man who answered a phone number listed for Mooney on a directory of track coaches said his name was John but then hung up.

The school's cross-country team, which is training for its season, was notified about Mooney at practice Monday night. An assistant coach has taken over.

@JasonNark, narkj@phillynews.com, 215-854-5916