Knop's Knotes Pitt-Johnstown supporters form club to boost wrestling program

Jan. 28—When the Pitt-Johnstown wrestling team heads west to Greensburg for a dual meet at Seton Hill on Saturday, the Mountain Cats will do so as one of the strongest programs in Division II.

There is a newly organized group of supporters that wants to keep it that way for years to come.

The Mountain Cat Wrestling Club has launched to support the program that coach Pat Pecora has built into a national power. Now in his 47th season as head coach, Pecora has won more dual meets than any coach in college wrestling history, but his accomplishments don't stop there.

The Mountain Cats have won 24 regional titles and two national crowns. They have produced 164 All-Americans and 14 national champs who combined to win 22 titles.

Pitt-Johnstown is ranked second in The Open Mat's dual meet rankings for Division II.

Isaac Greeley, who was a member of the 1999 national championship team as well as a two-time All-American for Pecora, saw the discrepancy this past season between the resources that Pitt-Johnstown has compared to the programs it competes against in Division II.

While he's not a paid staff member, Greeley has remained close to the program and helped Pecora and assistant coach Tyler Reinhart at the 2022 national tournament.

He was dismayed by what he saw.

"We're going against teams with four wrestlers that have five coaches there," Greeley said. "We're there with three coaches and eight wrestlers."

Reinhart was elevated to a full-time assistant coach in the offseason — the first in program history — but Greeley and other supporters still see a need to support a staff that also includes part-time assistants Jody Strittmatter and Shad Benton — each of whom won national titles under Pecora.

"There's a lot of great people involved," Greeley said of the Mountain Cat Wrestling Club, which is a 503c Not-For-Profit Tax-Exempt organization. "I just really want coach's legacy to really be solidified in the late stage of his career."

The organization is the brainchild of Richard Ross, a Richland chiropractor who was on the Pitt-Johnstown wrestling team during Pecora's first season at the school. Ross saw what the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club was doing for Penn State and wanted to bring that support to the UPJ program, which he has been a part of since Pecora asked him to accompany that 1999 team as it chased a national title.

Ross brought the idea up to Jeff Kuleck. The brother of Jared Kuleck, who was a three-time All-American for the Mountain Cats in the 1990s, Jeff Kuleck has been an ardent supporter. They enlisted the help of people who have played a significant role in the program — people such as Bruce Haselrig, Sean Isgan, Larry Robey and Mike Corcetti, all of whom are club board members.

"We tried to have members from throughout the time Pat has been there," Ross said. "We want to try to raise a lot of money. Coach has a lot of things he wants to get done. We have some innovative ideas."

One of those ideas was to purchase life insurance policies on board members with the club serving as the beneficiary.

"When I'm not here anymore, there will be money going into the club," Ross said.

The club hopes to raise money to add a separate entrance to the wrestling room in the Sports Center, possibly with a lobby and study area.

A new locker room and weight room are on the agenda, as is a four-sided scoreboard that would hang above the basketball court — and wrestling mat on match days. The group also may purchase equipment for the athletic training staff.

So while the group's main function is to support the wrestling team, its presence could be a boon to the entire athletic program at Pitt-Johnstown.

"It's not just going to benefit the wrestling program," Ross said. "It will benefit all of the sports."

Annual memberships can be purchased at www.mcatwc.org, with levels ranging from Tom Cat ($60 per year) to Mountain Cat ($3,500) with five other levels in between.

"We have such a great fan base and an alumni base, we thought maybe there were some avenues that we could get to that the school couldn't," Greeley said.

Jeff Kuleck provided the seed money to get the club going, and members have been joining since its formation was announced at the annual golf outing in August 2022.

"We're probably around 30 members," Greeley said. "Our goal is 100. We're just building it. We're still in the early stages."

Pecora has long said that his wrestlers are "brothers for life." As Ross sees it, that gives Pitt-Johnstown a great base from which to build.

"If every alumnus that has come through in Pat's 47 years joined, we'd be able to raise at least $100,000 or more," Ross said.