Ron Headlee and John Yates are teaming up again, this time at the collegiate level.

Headlee and Yates, who most recently coached together at Waynesburg Central High School, are resuming their wrestling coaching careers at Waynesburg University.

"I haven't signed a contract yet," said Headlee, in a phone interview on Thursday morning. "The university is waiting for my clearances to come through, so nothing is official yet. But they have allowed us to start recruiting."

As it turned out, the paperwork was completed later that day. Headlee has been named head coach and Yates will serve as his assistant.

"This just fell in our laps," Headlee said. "We both retired from coaching last year, and had no plans to return, at least not in the near future. It was an opportunity we couldn't turn down."

The opening at Waynesburg University came about when Charlie Heard stepped down during his second season with the Yellow Jackets. Chay Lahew has served as interim coach for the past two weeks.

"Chay is an assistant football coach who had coached wrestling before," said Headlee, a 1978 graduate of Waynesburg Central High School.

Headlee and Yates had previously worked together at Waynesburg High, but with Yates in charge. Yates posted a 140-43 record in 10 years as head coach of the Raiders. Those numbers place him second on the school's all-time victory list.

Headlee had spent the past 11 seasons at Waynesburg High School, the first seven as a junior high coach, and the last four as Yates' varsity assistant.

"We worked so well together at the high school level," said Headlee. "He was the first person I thought about when I started looking into the job."

Headlee also has plenty of head coaching experience. He posted a 111-25 record in 10 seasons at Jefferson-Morgan.

The Rockets won five WPIAL Class AA team tournament titles during his tenure. Headlee also coached the most famous wrestler in WPIAL history, Cary Kolat, a four-time WPIAL and PIAA champion who completed his career with a perfect 137-0 record.

"John and I retired from coaching so we could follow our sons in college," said Headlee, whose sons, Drew and Ethan, are starting at the University of Pittsburgh. "This job will take some time away from that, but it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. Heck, it's right in our backyard."

Prior to this season, Headlee had been coaching wrestling since he graduated from Messiah College in 1982.

"Once you get the sport of wrestling in your blood, it's hard to step away," said Headlee.

Headlee and Yates have the unenviable task of rebuilding Waynesburg University's wrestling program. The Yellow Jackets have an 0-11 record this season, and were 1-11 last season.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us on the recruiting trail," said Headlee. "Our goal is to find kids who want to wrestle at the collegiate level, but are not quite [talented] enough to compete at the Division I or II levels. Waynesburg University has a lot to offer as far as academics are concerned. Hopefully, we can offer a competitive wrestling program."

Headlee and Yates want to get the word out to high school coaches in the Tri-State Area.

"Western Pennsylvania is obviously a great area for wrestling talent, but we will also be recruiting in West Virginia and Ohio as well as Maryland," Headlee said.

Headlee and Yates are very familiar with one member of Waynesburg University's team. Former Waynesburg High School wrestler Nick Garber is a 141-pound freshman for the Yellow Jackets.

"Nick was named Outstanding Wrestler at the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament," said Headlee, referring to Wednesday's PAC championship meet, which took place at Waynesburg. "It will be great to coach Nick again."

Garber recorded a pair of pins en route to the 141-pound title. He is the first Waynesburg University wrestler to earn the Oustanding Wrestler Award since 1999. Waynesburg finished third in the three-team tournament.