Drew Headlee - Assistant Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Drew Headlee

Title:
Assistant Coach
Alma Mater:
Pitt, '08
Email:
Season at Pitt:
11th
Phone:
412-383-9078

An experienced coach with deep roots at the University of Pittsburgh and in the Western Pennsylvania wrestling community, Drew Headlee is entering his 12th season as a coach with Pitt's program.

Headlee's daily contributions to the team and its athletes have helped several Pitt wrestlers win conference championships and qualify for the NCAA Championships, highlighted by his extensive work with two-time ACC champion Micky Phillippi and 2022 NCAA All-American Cole Matthews.

Working with head coach Keith Gavin, Headlee also helped recruit and develop 2023 NCAA champion Nino Bonaccorsi, Pitt's first national champion in wrestling since Gavin himself stood atop the NCAA podium in 2008.

The Panthers have won two ACC dual titles during Headlee's time on staff, most recently during the 2022-23 season, and Pitt is currently on a streak of five consecutive top-30 finishes at the NCAA Championships, highlighted by an 11th-place team finish in 2021 when Bonaccorsi and three-time ACC champion Jake Wentzel both advanced to the national finals and earned NCAA All-America status.

Headlee, a 2008 Pitt graduate who competed with Gavin as an athlete, returned to Pittsburgh after a two-year stint at Lehigh as a volunteer assistant. There he worked alongside former Pitt wrestler Pat Santoro, who was a two-time national champion and four-year All-American.

Headlee primarily assisted with the lightweights and was responsible for developing a trio of All-Americans in Darian Cruz (125), Mason Beckman (133) and Mitch Minotti (149). Under Headlee’s guidance, Cruz became Lehigh’s first true freshman All-American in 34 years.

In addition to serving on the Mountain Hawks coaching staff, he was also a member of the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club, both coaching and competing on a national and international level.

Prior to Lehigh, Headlee spent four years training and competing around the world. Headlee trained at the North Carolina Regional Training Center in Chapel Hill from 2010-12 and before that worked at West Virginia’s Regional Training Center. Wrestling has taken him to nearly a dozen countries, including Russia, Belarus and Cuba.

Some of Headlee’s top finishes included a silver medal at the 2013 Pan American Games and placing at the US Open Nationals five times. From 2008-11, he was in the top-seven each year at the US Open, highlighted by fifth-place finishes in 2010 and 2011.

Headlee’s most notable achievement, however, may be winning the final Olympic Trials Qualifying Tournament in 2012 with a 4-0 mark while racking up wins against three former NCAA All-Americans. The Western Pennsylvania native also has third-place finishes to his name at the 2010 Sunkis and 2011 Cerro Pelado International events and a runner-up finish at the 2009 NYAC International.

At Pitt, Headlee was a four-year letterwinner and three-year captain under Rande Stottlemyer. A three-time NCAA qualifier and two-time Eastern Wrestling League champion, Headlee garnered All-American status as a sophomore in 2005 at 133 pounds. He narrowly missed another All-American award, falling in the round of 12 three years later as a senior.

Throughout his college career, Headlee won numerous events, including the 2004 Mat Town Invitational, the 2006 Body Bar Invitational at Cornell and was also a University National Freestyle Champion.

Headlee earned his bachelor's degree in architectural studies from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008.

A standout wrestler in high school before arriving at Pitt, Headlee lettered all four years at nearby Waynesburg Central High School. Headlee finished with a career record of 137-28, was a four-time top-four WPIAL finisher and three-time Pennsylvania state qualifier, capturing a AAA state title in 2002.