Father and son coaching duo love their jobs
Pitt Athletics
Waynesburg Central graduate and University of Pittsburgh co-head coach Drew Headlee (left) applauds a Panthers’ victory during the ACC Wrestling Championships. Fellow co-head coach Matt Kocher congratulates the wrestler’s effort. Headlee is following the path his father, Ron, did by coaching the sport he once competed in. Ron is the current head wrestling coach at Waynesburg University after coaching at Jefferson-Morgan High School and in the Waynesburg’s junior high program.
Dave Miller | ADM Photography
Waynesburg University head wrestling coach Ron Headlee (far left) intently watches one of his wrestlers during action this season. Headlee, and his son Drew, who is the co-head coach at the University of Pittsburgh, are hoping to help lead their respective programs to the next level, and regularly talk about the success of their grapplers.
Ron Headlee could see from early on that his son, Drew, was destined to be a coach.
The younger Headlee used to follow his dad to practices and matches when Ron was leading Jefferson-Morgan’s Cary Kolat to four state championships and an undefeated high school career.
“He was a little guy then, but he loved coming to matches with me, and Cary and all those guys treated him so well,” said Ron, who is the current head coach at Waynesburg University. “I knew he had it in his blood. He had a great career as a competitor, but you could tell he had it in him to be a coach. He likes working with the kids and works out two to three times a day with the kids.”
Drew was the assistant coach for the University of Pittsburgh’s wrestling team when the season began last November, but due to the firing of head coach Jason Peters because of an off-the-mat incident, Drew and fellow assistant coach Matt Kocher were named co-head coaches for the remainder of the season.
Both are still under the co-head coach role as the Panthers search for their next head coach.
“We kind of got thrown into the fire, but it was a good experience and is one of the best ways to do it,” Drew said. “The guys still kept their heads in it despite dealing with a lot of adversity, and we had four guys at the national tournament.”
Ron coached Drew at the junior-high level but not in high school. The younger Headlee doesn’t have aspirations at this time to coach high school.
“I would like to stay in coaching in college at the highest level,” Drew said. “My dad and I talk wrestling all the time. The guys he coaches compete just because they love wrestling. They don’t get scholarships, and even though they may not have the talent of Division I guys, we would like to get more guys at our program that have a similar mindset. It is a big commitment to wrestle at the collegiate level.”
Drew not only admired Kolat but also watched Gavin Teasdale’s father, Brandon, when he wrestled for the Rockets under Ron.
“I admired Cary and Gavin’s dad, Brandon,” Drew said. “I saw the relationships my dad built with those guys when he coached them and I want to do that with the guys I coach. You don’t think about it when you are younger and competing, but I started to really think about it when my career as a competitor was coming to an end.”
Drew’s path to Pitt, where he completed his third season at the national tournament on March 18, is a three-step process.
“I was just training at first after my collegiate career ended to try and make the world and Olympic teams at the training center,” Drew said. “I worked at the West Virginia University training center and then worked out at UNC with Cary (Kolat).
“I was a volunteer assistant at Lehigh University where I could train and also work out with the guys. I was there for two years before I came to Pitt.”
Both Headlees had success this year at the national tournament in their respective divisions.
The Yellow Jackets’ Shaun Wilson (149), Ryan Shank (184) and Jake Evans (285) qualified for the Division III national tournament, with Evans (seventh) and Wilson (eighth) achieving All-American status.
The Panthers didn’t produce any All-Americans this season but had four national qualifiers in Dom Forys (133), Taleb Rahmani (157), Te’shan Campbell (165) and Ryan Solomon (285). Campbell will be transferring to Ohio State, but Forys, Rahmani and Solomon are all returning next season.
“Ryan (Solomon) was one match short in gaining All-American status and we had Dom (Forys) and Taleb (Rahamani) come up short,” Drew said. “Taleb is a redshirt freshman and has three more chances.
“We have done well in the WPIAL in terms of recruiting and we have a WPIAL kid in Nino Bonaccorsi signed. His brother wrestled at Pitt so it’s nice to get him here. We want to turn things around and get those top-level national recruits to come here and wrestle for us.”
Ron knows that his son deals with a great deal of pressure at the Division-I level where coaches are expected to get results.
“There is a lot more pressure coaching in college because jobs are riding on it,” Ron said. “We deal with problems but there is a lot more pressure at the Division-I level. He (Drew) has a lot of knowledge and will be a great head coach.”