BREAKING: Keith Gavin Named Pitt Head Coach

BREAKING: Keith Gavin Named Pitt Head Coach

Kieth Gavin has been named the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers wrestling program

Apr 13, 2017 by Andrew Spey
BREAKING: Keith Gavin Named Pitt Head Coach
Keith Gavin will be named head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers wrestling program. A source close to the situation confirmed to FloWrestling that Gavin will be taking the reins at the University of Pittsburgh.

Several highly regarded DI head coaches had been named as targets for the job, including Edinboro's Tim Flynn, Lehigh's Pat Santoro and South Dakota State's Chris Bono. Ultimately, Flynn, Santoro and Bono remained at their respective institutions.

Gavin was a three year starter for Pitt, winning an NCAA championship in 2008 at 174 pounds after a runner up finish at the same weight in 2007.

Gavin returns to his alma mater by way of the Oklahoma Sooner program, where he served as an assistant coach under Lou Rosselli for the 2016-17 season. Gavin spent the two previous seasons before that as a member of the Virginia Cavalier coaching staff.

Rosselli also coached the Factoryville, PA native at the Ohio Regional Training Center, where Gavin worked out while competing in freestyle. Gavin finished in the top three at the US World Team Trials for six consecutive years, from 20010-2015. Gavin represented the USA at 84 kilograms at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where he went 1-1 and did not place.

The head coach position had remained vacant at Pitt since Jason Peters was dismissed on January 19th, earlier this year.

Matt Kocher and Drew Headlee were promoted to co-head coaches in the wake of Peters's removal. We have no word on their future with the Pitt program at this moment.

We caught up with Gavin in 2014 when he first joined the UVA staff in the interview below.


You can also check out Gavin in action on the mat, as he wins the 2013 World Team Trials over Clayton Foster in the video below.