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<p>Steve Mytych has been a well-known figure in the area as a wrestler or coach since the turn of the century.</p><p>He&#8217;s about to become known on a broader level now.</p><p>The 28-year-old was selected as the next head wrestling coach for Keystone College, the school announced on Thursday as it also heralded the rebirth of the sport for the first time since the 1990-91 season concluded.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s quite an honor knowing that I&#8217;m going to be a coach at a brand new program,&#8221; Mytych said.</p><p>Mytych&#8217;s plethora of experience makes him an ideal fit for the Giants program. He&#8217;s currently assistant coach at Wyoming Seminary, the second-best high school wrestling team in the country according to numerous publications. He also serves as the school&#8217;s strength and conditioning coach and varsity softball coach. Part of his duties as assistant wrestling coach is instructing the X-Calibur Wrestling Club, a group held at Sem geared towards elementary school wrestlers.</p><p>Mytych started his high school wrestling career with Wyoming Valley West before finishing up at Northampton in 2005 as a four-time state qualifier. He moved on to compete at Division I Drexel where he was a four-time NCAA Tournament national qualifier and piled up the most victories in school history with 137.</p><p>Prior to coaching at Sem, Mytych was head coach at Wyoming Area, and assistant at Bloomsburg and Lehigh University where he helped multiple lightweights become All-Americans.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s great. I&#8217;m a head coach at heart and I got to learn from a lot of great coaches at Drexel, Lehigh, in high school and then moving onto Seminary so I&#8217;m super excited,&#8221; he said.</p><p>It&#8217;s a new endeavor for Mytych, but being familiar with District 2 wrestlers and coaches, and now being head coach at just the fourth college wrestling program in the District 2 area, he already has a bit of an advantage.</p><p>&#8220;Right where District 2 is that&#8217;s a huge benefit being that I know a lot of the kids coming up; I think that will be a huge asset,&#8221; said Mytych, who said he&#8217;s already reached out to some area high school coaches.</p><p>But he&#8217;s also quick to point out that not many high school wrestlers go on to wrestle in college. In fact, a recent study released by the NCAA shows that less than 1 percent of grapplers in high school move on to Division I programs and that number is just 1.2 percent in Division III.</p><p>That number is something, now as a college coach, Mytych has an opportunity to impact, especially at a restarted program.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of kids cut wrestling short in college because there&#8217;s not many opportunities,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s because there aren&#8217;t many opportunities. As for wrestling in the area. I think this gives kids another opportunity. I&#8217;m going to be recruiting in the area and I&#8217;m very excited about it.&#8221;</p><p>In a 20-year span during the 1960s through the 1980s, Keystone was known for being one of the top small college wrestling programs in the nation wrestling as a junior college under legendary head coach Larry Fornicola.</p><p>No longer a junior college, the Giants will be competing as an NCAA Division III Independent and will have the opportunity to compete against the three other local college wrestling teams &#8212; Wilkes, King&#8217;s and the University of Scranton.</p><p>Fornicola led Keystone from 1965 through 1990 and was inducted into the National Junior College Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1980. Among many other accomplishments, he was a Lifetime Service to Wrestling Honoree, recognizing his years of dedication to the sport and is a member of the Keystone College Hall of Fame.</p><p>So Mytych has big shoes to fill, but he&#8217;s ready.</p><p>&#8220;As soon as the alumni kinda caught wind of it, everyone has been behind me 100 percent,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I think now that it will be a Division III sport is that much better than being junior college and being recognized as an NCAA sport.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Mytych </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_Mytych_Steven_t-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Mytych </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>drosengrant@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Steve Mytych tabbed to run Keystone College’s wrestling restart