Bitter no more: Mars assistant coach Keith Brubach rekindles love for wrestling through coaching, competition

While competing for the Rock Wrestling Club at Slippery Rock University, Keith Brubach has risen to the top-ranked wrestler at 165 pounds in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association. Brubach was inspired back to competition partly by working with youth wrestlers in his hometown of Mars.
Mars volunteer assistant wrestling coach Keith Brubach has worked to balance coaching in his hometown and competing at the Rock Wrestling Club at Slippery Rock University.
Mars volunteer assistant wrestling coach Keith Brubach has worked to balance coaching in his hometown and competing at the Rock Wrestling Club at Slippery Rock University. / Keith Brubach

Keith Brubach was having a hard time finding his reason why. Questioning your motivation for stepping on the wrestling mat isn’t a good mental state to be in before facing an opponent eager to drive your face into the ground.

But the volunteer assistant coach for the Mars wrestling team has battled through all of his roadblocks to happiness. Brubach fought off the bitterness of having his high school career end due to a positive COVID-19 test and a persistent shoulder injury to recapture his love for the sport.

Coaching youth wrestling at Mars, in addition to serving as a varsity assistant, while competing at the collegiate level continues to drive his passion forward. Brubach competes for the Rock Wrestling Club at Slippery Rock University and is the top-ranked wrestler at 165 pounds in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association

Brubach, a senior, was the runner-up at 165 pounds last season.

“In high school, I was a mental head case,” said Brubach, who graduated from Mars in 2021. “I over complicate things too much. I got the itch again. I stopped overthinking it. I gained a level of confidence that I can hang with anybody. I have a push to get through long seasons. If you look at my high school record, you’ll see two seasons and not a lot of matches.”

Planets varsity head coach Ben Rings said he has seen significant progress from Brubach.

“When I first started working with him, I used to beat him up,” Rings said. “But he’s gotten a lot stronger and faster. But that doesn’t have anything to do with me. He’s an intense guy, not just in the wrestling room, he always goes 100 percent.”

Going home again to Slippery Rock and Mars

Brubach went to community college before deciding to transfer to SRU and join the club wrestling team. Having already started to work with the youth wrestlers in Mars, Brubach decided to ask Rings if he could train with the varsity team during winter break in 2022. Rings offered him a chance to serve as an assistant coach.

“When I came back, I asked coach Ben Rings if I could come in and train with the guys,” Brubach said. “He said to take the liability away, I could get on staff as a varsity assistant. For matches, I’m on the team bench and I travel with the team to tournaments.”

Mars is 5-6 in dual meets this season. Liam Hein leads the Planets with 23 wins. Brubach said when he started working with the youth wrestlers, he had a desire to compete again.

“I liked having an opportunity to help young kids and it helped respark my love for it,” Brubach said. “It gave me a new perspective. I saw the same love for the sport that I had as a kid myself.”

From what Rings has seen, the kids in Mars’ program, including his 15-year-old son, respond well to Brubach. Rings said some of the youth wrestlers have made the short trek to SRU to see him compete in person.

“It’s great because he’s young, himself,” Rings said. “It’s different from hearing from some old dad or a former wrestler. They can watch him on Flo(Wrestling). He has that energy. That lively spirit the kids have.”

Infinite roadblocks cut short Brubach's high school wrestling career

Injuries sucked most of the love out of Brubach’s high school career. He finished 28-9 and was limited to two varsity seasons.

Brubach said the issues started when he hurt his separated his shoulder at the MAC Tournament during his freshman season.

“With my recovery, I rushed to get back,” Brubach said. “That deferred my offseason plans. It wasn’t the best culture with the team and  I fell out of love with the sport. I had a hard time finding my why. I regret not wrestling.”

After two years off, Brubach returned as a senior. When he was healthy, Brubach was a consistent performer. The highlight of Brubach’s career came when he beat North Allegheny’s Travis Stipetich in his final match to win the section title. Brubach improved to 16-2 with a win and punched his ticket to the WPIAL Class 3A championships.

However, Brubach wouldn’t get a chance to see where he stood. Due to a positive COVID-19 test, he was forced to pull out of the tournament. 

“That was brutal,” Brubach said.

Brubach chose to not pursue any of the potential offers he had out of high school and instead went to community college. After a year, Brubach chose to head to SRU and compete for their club program.

The Rock used to have a Division I wrestling program, but SRU dropped the program following the 2005-06 school year due to Title IX issues that forced the school to cut eight sports.

The athletes who compete under the Rock Wrestling Club banner don’t receive scholarships for competing because of its club status.

“They are a well-established program in the NCWA,” Brubach said. “Whether I’m getting paid to do it or not, I want to do the toughest things I can and go 100 percent.”

Great expectations

Brubach is 78-15 during his time wrestling at SRU. He won the Sword and Hammer Invitational in January to improve to 20-2 on the season. Other schools competing at the invite included James Madison, Liberty, Central Florida and Yale.

Brubach placed sixth at nationals two years ago and was the runner-up last year. Brubach hopes he can wrap his last college season up with a championship.

“We all look at each other’s strength and build each other up in our blind spots,” Brubach said. “We don’t look to wrestle easy competition.”

Brubach wouldn't know how to take the easy way out. That road has never been in front of him. The past pain has made him appreciate his present opportunity.

--Josh Rizzo | rizzo42789@gmail.com | @J_oshrizzo


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Josh Rizzo
JOSH RIZZO

Josh Rizzo has served as a sports writer for high school and college sports for more than 15 years. Rizzo graduated from Slippery Rock University in 2010 and Penn-Trafford High School in 2007. During his time working at newspapers in Illinois, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, he covered everything from demolition derby to the NCAA women's volleyball tournament. Rizzo was named Sports Writer of the Year by Gatehouse Media Class C in 2011. He also won a first-place award for feature writing from the Missouri Press Association. In Pennsylvania, Rizzo was twice given a second-place award for sports deadline reporting from the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors. He began contributing to High School On SI in 2025