Sports Shorts

After the departure of head softball coach Richele Hall following the 2018 season, Waynesburg University didn’t look far to find the next leader of its program. Brett Shimek, who has built an outstanding reputation on both the baseball and softball field brings a wealth of coaching in both the high school game and the travel ball circuit to the Yellow Jackets.

Shimek was an assistant coach at nearby Waynesburg Central High School from 2015 to 2018 and also served as head coach of the Margaret Bell Miller Middle School team in 2013 and 2014. In each of his four years with the Raiders, they qualified for the WPIAL playoffs, including a trip to the quarterfinal round this past spring.

Prior to his coaching work in the Central Greene School District, Shimek began his time with the local travel teams in 2010 as the president and head coach of the Waynesburg Dirt Dawgs. In 2012 he took a position as the assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Power. The following year (2013) he moved up to head coach of the Power, before becoming an assistant coach with the PA Lady Knights in 2014, a position he continues to hold today.

The Lady Knights were crowned National Softball Association champions in 2015, following a runner-up performance in 2014. Since 2014, the Knights have built up an impressive 223-15 record while working predominantly with players from Washington and Greene counties. During that same stretch, Shimek and the rest of the program’s administration have grown the program from one team to five.

Shimek’s softball administrative experience stretches back to the first decade of the millennium. From 2007 to 2010 he spent time as both the president and vice-president of the Waynesburg Girls Softball Association. During his two years as president (2009-2010), Shimek helped raise $20,000 for the organization, all while also serving as president of the Mason-Dixon Girls Softball Association.

Waynesburg’s new head coach hopes to use his connections to that local talent to lead the Yellow Jackets to the top of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC). “I’m very excited to work with the players in and around Washington and Greene. Southwestern Pennsylvania has a lot of great softball talent and I am really looking forward to trying to bring them here and working with them,” Shimek said. “There are juniors and seniors that I interact with in the travel leagues that I think they will make great student-athletes, so I think the timing is perfect.”

Shimek’s playing resume is equally as impressive as his coaching/administrative background. After lettering four years on the Waynesburg Central baseball team (1989- 1992), as well as gathering four letters on the golf team and two more on the wrestling squad, he competed for two years at Penn State Beaver (1993-1994). Both years at Beaver, he was named first-team Junior College All-American as a catcher.

Shimek then moved to California University (Pa.), where he was lauded as a twotime All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) honoree. After wrapping up his collegiate playing days, the Waynesburg native graduated with a degree in Parks and Recreation Management.

When he isn’t on the ball field, Shimek is employed by Baily Insurance in Waynesburg as its Director of Operations. He resides in Waynesburg with his wife Taraha and the two have a daughter, Bailee, who is the starting first baseman at WCHS and a member of the Lady Knights.

Waynesburg University Director of Athletics Larry Marshall believes Shimek is a terrific fit to lead the Yellow Jackets.”Brett takes as much pride and puts as much effort into helping his players prepare for college or the professional world, as he does in making them better athletes,” Marshall said. “That commitment to developing outstanding allaround young women makes him a perfect fit for Waynesburg University.”

Shimek mirrored Marshall’s comments when it comes to his approach to his players.”I’m most looking forward to working with the student-athletes to prepare them for post-graduation life,” Shimek said. “In my job, I do a lot of talent acquisition and if I can prepare them on and off the field for that next step, that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”

Shimek is joined in his first year on the job by assistant coaches Matt Tedrow and Bill Herbert, both of whom also boast strong ties to the local softball scene.