HERMITAGE — Former Slippery Rock University wrestler and coach Chris Elliott was recently named athletic director of Kennedy Catholic High School.

Elliott, 42, is a 1989 graduate of Kennedy Catholic. His career work before this has been in wrestling.

“I sometimes regret becoming a head coach as quickly as I did because I jumped right into the paperwork without spending a few years growing into coaching by being an assistant,” Elliott said.

One of nine 100-win wrestlers in SRU history, Elliott was 106-52 for The Rock from 1995-2000.

Wrestling was discontinued as a varsity sport at The Rock in 2006.

Elliott served as a graduate assistant coach under Steve Roberts for a year.

Roberts resigned as head coach following that season and Elliott took over.

He guided SRU to a 7-6 record in his only season before accepting the head coaching job at James Madison University.

He only stayed at JMU for two years.

“I wanted to stay at James Madison longer, but my father took ill and I moved closer to home to help take care of him,” Elliott said.

Elliott went on to coach at Mercyhurst and Seton Hill — building the latter program from scratch — before operating his own business, Elliott Elite Wrestling and Conditioning, in Hermitage.

He produced two All-Americans and four national qualifiers in a six-year stint at Seton Hill.

“That was my most satisfying job as a coach,” Elliott said. “Now I'm ready for a new challenge. Time management and communication will be the key. I'm in the process of meeting all of the coaches at the high school now.

“I've been to three high school basketball games in the past five days. Before that, I saw maybe 10 games in 10 years.”

Kennedy Catholic has won more than 125 state, regional, district and conference championships in girls and boys sports during its illustrious history.