As of March 11, Bethany College will now be adding men’s wrestling as part of their varsity sports offered at the institution. With the news of the new program also comes a promotion for women’s wrestling head coach, Pete Di Pol, who after spending his first year at the helm of the inaugural season for women’s wrestling at the college, is now the director of wrestling operations according to the PAC Athletics, and will oversee the coaching of both the men’s and women’s programs. a

Jen Windmiller, who serves as the interim director of athletics for Bethany College, spoke to the enthusiasm that those at Bethany have for what should be nothing less than a proud addition to Bethany sports.

“We’re really optimistic it’s going to take fold. It kind of makes sense for our footprint being in the PAC and the schools like [Waynesburg], W&J, it compliments our football program as well,” Windmiller said, continuing on to her optimism in Di Pol’s leadership with both programs. “We’re very optimistic. I think coach has already signed six wrestlers for this incoming freshman class. He’s guessing on the low end 15, he would ideally like 20. I’ve only known coach for less than a year, and he has yet to underperform in anything right now.”

As for the landscape of the conference since the 2022-23 season ended, it it on pace for more than doubling. When it comes to the men’s side, what started as just Waynesburg, Thiel and Washington & Jefferson having programs, it has increased every year with Saint Vincent, (2023-24) Hiram (2024-25) Bethany (2025-26) and Chatham. (2026-27) As for the women, they have been increasing at an even greater rate, starting with none in 2022-23, then them adding Waynesburg, Hiram and Bethany (2024-25) as well as Chatham and Washington & Jefferson, (2026-27) the PAC has been in a constant upward trend for the sport, and Windmiller does not see that ending anytime soon. 

“I do believe the PAC is moving toward trying to equal out wrestling. We want to be a conference sport, we want to be more competitive through the PAC, and across the nation in Division III,” Windmiller said, while adding on how both of Bethany’s programs came about. “We got our foot in the door in the women’s side, we saw immediate success in our inaugural season with our women’s program, we happened to bring a coach in who knows a lot about the men’s side as well. When he proposed it to me to adding a men’s program, I talked to Joe Onderko and he was on board for it and just adding an additional team to the PAC, adding more competition to the conference, I think it’s just a great look for the conference to see more institutions, being on board with the same programs.”

When it comes to the men’s side, one individual who entered the PAC right as the influx of programs began is Waynesburg University sophomore and the returning PAC Champion at 174 pounds, Jesse Orbin. For him, he is simply excited for the growth of the sport he loves, and the opportunity to see the conference only get stronger.

“It’s super exciting to see the programs grow and even see the PAC grow with a new addition,” Orbin said, continuing on how he sees the increase in competition as nothing more than an additional step to continue on the path he sees himself on for the goals he is chasing. “I don’t think recruiting will be any harder with high schoolers. I just believe our sport is going to continually evolve and get harder to become the best.”

Timothy Fusina, who serves as the athletic director for Waynesburg University, sees the addition of men’s wrestling for Bethany, as well as the recent and future additions to men’s and women’s wrestling as being nothing short of a benefit for all parties involved.

“The expansion of both men’s and women’s wrestling in the PAC is much needed.  We now have an opportunity to have more local competition within the PAC which will allow our student-athletes to travel less and miss less class time,” Fusina said.  “The expansion of both men’s and women’s wrestling is significant.  Women’s wrestling is the fastest growing scholastic sport nationwide and the NCAA approved sponsorship and a national championship for women’s wrestling beginning next season.  Adding programs like men’s and women’s wrestling also allows institutions to expand their student population through recruiting and retention.”  

For Waynesburg University men’s wrestling specifically, they are one of the teams in the conference currently in search for their next head coach, a decision Fusina places a lot of weight in the hire, and how well the next coach will do in the competition of recruiting quality athletes.

“It is always vital that we make the correct hire when we search for a coach.  The main thing I look for is that they have college recruiting experience because you need to recruit to compete as a program, and recruiting is the only way we can have a program at all,” Fusina said, noting an added importance when it comes to the skills he is looking for in the men’s candidate. “We need to find quality coaches who can communicate effectively with their current student-athletes along with connecting with their recruits to secure deposits and grow their rosters to be competitive.”