Bret Colbert named football coach at Greensburg Central Catholic

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 11, 2019 | 5:00 PM

Greensburg Central Catholic hired Bret Colbert on Friday as its new football coach.

He replaces Aaron Smetanka, who is now the head coach at Saint Vincent College.

Colbert, who is the son of former Saint Vincent coach Bob Colbert, has 15 years of college and high school coaching experience and spent the last two seasons as a wide receivers coach at GCC.

The Centurions were 7-3 in 2018.

Colbert got back into coaching when Smetanka was hired two years ago. He had stepped away from the college game to devote more time with the family — wife Allison and children Charlie (age 4) and 18-month-old twins Lucy and James.

“When Aaron got hired I called him to congratulate him, and he offered me a job,” Colbert said. “It was an easy decision because I lived across the street from the school.”

Greensburg Central Catholic athletic director Dan Mahoney said when Smetanka was hired at Saint Vincent, Colbert approached him about the position.

“I am pleased and excited Bret has accepted the football coaching position,” Mahoney said. “He has a great wealth of experience on the college level. He is a great fit for our school community, a family man who comes from a great football family.”

His uncle, Kevin Colbert, is the Pittsburgh Steelers general manager and uncle Ricky also coached high school football.

Prior to joining the GCC staff, Colbert was a defensive assistant, wide receivers coach and a recruiting coordinator at Duquesne University for three seasons (2014-16). The Dukes were NEC champs in 2015 and 2016.

“I am looking forward to continuing our growth and success on the field, in the classroom and in the community at GCC,” Colbert said. “I have enjoyed working with these young men the past two seasons and am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to continue mentoring them as the head football coach.

“We have a nice group coming back and they are looking to build on last year’s success. These kids are competitive. I don’t think we were out of any game. It doesn’t matter who we played.”

Colbert’s coaching experience includes seven seasons on the staff at Saint Vincent (2007-13) as an assistant coach, video coordinator and recruiting coordinator before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2011. He also was an offensive assistant and video coordinator at Cornell University in 2006 and was a graduate assistant at Pitt (2004-05). Pitt was 2004 Big East co-champion and played in the Fiesta Bowl that season.

He is a Harrisonburg, Va., native who played wide receiver at William & Mary (A-10 champions in 2001) and Bridgewater College, Va., where he graduated in 2004 with a degree in health and exercise science.

Colbert is an abstractor for Penns Woods Property Searches in Greensburg. He and his family still live in Greensburg, but not across from the school.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Greensburg C.C.