Pitt secures services of wrestling coach Keith Gavin through 2027
Pitt achieved the stablity in its wrestling program that it seeks across all sports when coach Keith Gavin signed a contract Tuesday that carries through the 2027 season.
In five seasons at Pitt (his alma mater), Gavin coached 27 NCAA championship qualifiers, 10 ACC champions and seven All-Americans while recording 38 team victories, including three against top-10 opponents Arizona State, Virginia Tech and Lehigh.
The highlight was an 11th-place finish at the 2021 NCAA championships, which was Pitt’s best standing in more than 50 years. Pitt sent two wrestlers, Jake Wentzel and Nino Bonaccorsi, to the NCAA wrestling finals for the first time since 1963, and Gavin earned ACC Co-Coach of the Year honors.
Also, Bonaccorsi and Cole Matthews have won United States U23 freestyle championships, and Luca Augustine captured a U20 freestyle national title. Bonaccorsi represented the U.S. at the U23 World Championships last year in Serbia.
“We are thrilled to announce this deserved new contract for coach Gavin,” athletic director Heather Lyke said in a statement. “Keith was the first head coach that I had the privilege to hire after arriving at Pitt in 2017, and it has been extraordinary to watch him and his coaching staff build this program and see it head in the right trajectory.
“Keith’s pride in his alma mater is contagious and his student-athletes love competing with him in their corner. With another talented recruiting class coming in and the new practice and competition venue for wrestling in Victory Heights in the near future, Pitt wrestling has exceptional expectations and a bright future under coach Gavin.”
Said Gavin, who won an NCAA title in 2008: “I’m very grateful to be able to continue to build on the progress we’ve made over the last five years. I want to thank Heather Lyke and (athletic department administrator) Jen Tuscano for their leadership and support of wrestling at the University of Pittsburgh.
“I loved being at Pitt as a student-athlete. I love being at Pitt as a coach. This is a special university in a city and region that loves our sport. I’m honored to have this opportunity and excited to continue helping our student-athletes reach their goals on and off the mat.”
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.