Member of the Southwest Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2018

Colin Johnston is the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford wrestling program's first head coach, as the program competed in its first NCAA Division III season during the 2018-19 academic year.

Johnston is entering his third year guiding the Panthers' NCAA wrestling program.

In the program's first year, Johnston shared many successes, highlighted by a victory in the team's final dual meet of the season against Penn State-Behrend (Feb. 6) in front of a packed KOA Arena.

Capping the first season was a strong showing in the NCAA Southeast Regional. Senior Sam Colebert wrestled his way to a sixth-place finish in the heavyweight class.

Johnston comes to Pitt-Bradford from Davidson College, where he has served as assistant wrestling coach since 2015.

At Davidson, he scheduled team practices, planned meets and oversaw strength and conditioning commitments and NCAA weight certifications, while also reviewing and analyzing video of the athletes' performance. 

On the administrative side, he organized, planned and executed the team's travel and reservations while developing all procedures to manage and meet the allotted budget. Johnston also handled much of Davidson's recruiting.

From November 2015 until February 2016, Johnston served as Davidson's interim head coach where he took on all head coaching responsibilities for the Division I program while still covering his assistant coach duties.

Johnston spent his collegiate career wrestling at West Virginia University where he served as a team captain in 2013 and 2014. He also earned a 2014 NCAA Division I qualification.

Johnston earned a bachelor's degree in multidisciplinary studies in 2014 from West Virginia and is currently working on a master's degree in sports management studies intercollegiate athletic administration at California University of Pennsylvania.

The Eighty Four, Pa., native also spent time coaching in his hometown at the Quest School of Wrestling Club as an instructor from 2007 until 2014. While in college, he spent four summers working at the West Virginia University Wrestling Camp as an instructor and counselor.