The Waynesburg University Department of Athletics welcomed back an old friend to guide the Yellow Jacket softball team in August of 2026. Brett Shimek, who led Waynesburg to three-straight trips to the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) championship game and two titles during his first stint with the Jackets, returned to head the Orange and Black.
Shimek arrived for his first run at Waynesburg in 2019 and inherited a team that hadn’t had a winning season since 1994. By the time the 2022 season came to an end, Waynesburg boasted a 27-11 overall mark, the second-best record in the PAC (13-5) and the program’s first conference title since 1993. Things only got better in 2023, when Shimek and long-time assistant Matt Tedrow, who joined his long-time friend in the Jacket dugout in 2019, guided the squad to a program-record 29-10 record, a 15-5 PAC mark and a second-straight league title.
The Jackets just missed out on a three-peat and a third-straight trip to the NCAA Division III Championship tournament when they dropped a heart-breaking 1-0 loss in the 2024 PAC championship game.
By the time Shimek stepped away, he had accumulated a 100-95 overall record and was twice named PAC Coach of the Year.
Prior to turning the Jackets into a PAC powerhouse, 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 in 2018.
Before 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.
The Lady Knights were crowned National Softball Association champions in 2015, following a runner-up performance in 2014. From 2014 to 2018, the Knights 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 grew it from one team to five.
Shimek's softball administrative experience stretches back even further 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.
Shimek's playing resume is just 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 on to California University (Pa.), where he was lauded as a two-time 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.
