Michael Ladick has followed in the footsteps of his father.

"I owe everything to my father," said Ladick, who was recently named head wrestling coach at South Fayette High School. "I wouldn't be in this position without his guidance. He's been my mentor. He's my hero both on and off the mat."

Michael Ladick is a 2002 graduate of Penn-Trafford High School and a 2006 graduate of Shippensburg University. His father, Bob Ladick, is a 30-year coaching veteran, who compiled a 155-192-3 record in 22 seasons at Woodland Hills, Swissvale, and Bishop Boyle high schools.

"I remember when dad took me to my first tournament," said the younger Ladick. "He taught me wrestling, but never forced it. He just guided me and helped me with the little things. I owe my career to him."

Ladick was a three-year starter at Penn-Trafford, but an injury cut his sophomore season short.

"I broke my collarbone shortly after the season began," Ladick said. "I did get to wrestle the next two years and qualified for the WPIAL [Class AAA] Tournament both years."

Ladick had a 49-27 record in his two-plus seasons at Penn-Trafford, all in the 275-pound weight class. He placed third in Section 1-AAA as a junior and second as a senior. He fell short of a spot in the PIAA tournament both years.

"I didn't have much of a college career, but my love for the sport didn't die," Ladick said. "I was a small heavyweight at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds. I redshirted my freshman year at Shippensburg, then found myself on the bench the next two years."

Ladick graduated from Shippensburg with an education degree in mathematics, but still had one year of eligibility remaining.

"I enrolled at Waynesburg University to work on another degree with hopes of using my final year of eligibility," he said. "They originally told me I could wrestle, then determined I was ineligible after I had already started taking classes.

"It was disappointing to see my wrestling career end that way, but I stayed with the program as an assistant coach. I had always planned on going into coaching and this was the perfect opportunity."

Ladick added a graduate degree -- in education with a certification in instructional technologies -- to his resume this summer.

"I'm very proud of Michael," said Bob Ladick, who has been an assistant coach at Gateway High School the past seven years. "It was a joy to follow his high school career. Now I get a chance to watch him coach."

Michael Ladick has the difficult task of resurrecting a South Fayette program that was disbanded after the 1998-99 season.

"South Fayette hasn't had a varsity team in several years, but has had wrestlers competing in the WPIAL," said Ladick, referring to a co-operative agreement with Chartiers Valley that began shortly after South Fayette's varsity team was disbanded. "A good example is Mark McKnight, who was an All-American at Penn State this year."

South Fayette began its return to the WPIAL two years ago, as the district fielded a junior high team with hopes of eventually having a varsity program.

"I have nine kids signed up for the varsity team, but I still have a lot of recruiting to do," Ladick said. "I've already talked with the football coach and he has the philosophy that kids should play more than one sport. I'm looking for some big kids to fill the 189, 215 and 285-pound weight classes."

Four of the nine kids who have signed up were starters at Chartiers Valley. The top returnee is junior to be Sean Lubin, who posted a 31-8 record as a freshman for Chartiers Valley, but missed last season with an injury. The other returnees are Brian Haney, Nick Carr and Adam Zombeck. Carr had a 17-5 record last season as a freshman.

"We will be hard-pressed to fill a 14-man lineup, but there aren't many teams in Class AA that do have a full lineup," he said. "The key is to have a solid feeder program, and we already have a good start in that area. We have 20 kids in the junior high program and 30 to 40 in the junior olympic program."

Ladick does have one year of high school coaching experience.

"I was Dick Bane's assistant coach last season at Riverview," he said. "It was a good experience because Riverview also had a numbers problem. I saw first-hand how Dick handled practices and got the kids ready for matches in which we had little chance of winning, since we were forfeiting so many weight classes."

Ladick plans to follow his father's philosophy.

"My dad was a big fan of the pin-to-win philosophy," he said. "The idea is to go out there with the goal of pinning every opponent. Learning technique is obviously important, but I try not to make it too complicated. My main task is to make sure they each kid is physically and mentally prepared for each match."