Dave Fiore has come home.

Fiore, a 1994 graduate of Pine-Richland High School, has been hired to coach the Rams wrestling team.

"It all started at Pine-Richland," said Fiore. "I'm very excited to come back."

Fiore replaces his former coach, Tom McGarity, who stepped down after 17 seasons.

"Tom invested 17 years into the program," said Fiore. "He deserves a lot of respect for that. It's an honor to follow him as head coach."

Fiore was a three-year starter and two-time captain for McGarity. His first season on the varsity was McGarity's second year and the school was known as just "Richland" back then. And the Rams were competing in Class AA.

"I was 7-14 as a sophomore and all of my wins were via pins," said Fiore, who had a 51-33 career record for the Rams. "I did much better the next two years when I had a better understanding of the sport."

As a 152-pound junior, Fiore placed third in his section and fifth in the WPIAL, then posted an 0-2 record in the Southwest Regional. He returned at the same weight for his senior year and placed second in the section and sixth in the WPIAL.

"I was recruited by Don Henry at Gannon University," said Fiore. "He was a roommate of coach McGarity when they attended Slippery Rock University."

Fiore began his coaching career immediately after graduating from Gannon.

"I was the head coach at Girard High School near Erie for one year," said Fiore. "Then I had an opportunity to come back into this area and work for the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit. They placed me in the Kiski Area School District and I hooked on as a varsity assistant for coach Chuck Tursky."

Coincidentally, Tursky also roomed with McGarity when they were at Slippery Rock.

"I worked five seasons with Chuck," said Fiore. "He has one of the most successful programs in the WPIAL. We won five consecutive section titles while I was there. We also won the WPIAL [Class AAA] team title and were second in the state in 2002.

"It was a great experience working with Chuck and his other assistant, Chris Heater."

Fiore worked for the Shaler Area School District, in the area of emotional support, during the last school year and caught on as a volunteer midway through the season.

"I'm very happy with the district's decision to hire Dave as my replacement," said McGarity. "Pine-Richland currently has one of the best programs in the WPIAL and I want that to continue. I wanted to make sure the program continues on the right path and we have that with Dave at the helm."

Fiore also landed an administrative position at Pine-Richland.

"I was hired as director of the PRIDE program at the high school," said Fiore. "I will be dealing with emotional support and behavior issues. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity."

Fiore hasn't wasted any time getting acquainted with his wrestlers.

"I look for the transition to be smooth," said Fiore. "We already had camp at Pine-Richland. It gave me a chance to familiarize myself with the kids and see what we have in the junior high.

"We also attended Gene Mills' Pin2Win camp. It was a five-day camp held in the Pocono Mountains at the old Olympic Training Center. It was a great experience for the kids."

Pine-Richland has seven starters returning from a 9-8 squad. His top returnees are Sam Brehm, who was 30-9 last year at 125 pounds, and Steve Fawcett, who was 16-15 at 145.