Matush makes move to Bentworth baseball
After 19 years as Monessen High School’s baseball coach, Bill Matush is moving on to take the same job at Bentworth.
Matush, who played college baseball at Alderson-Broaddus in Philippi, W.Va., played on Monessen’s last section championship team in 1985. He will continue as an employee of the Monessen School District’s custodial staff
According to Brian Malecki, the Bearcats’ athletic director, the district’s school board voted to hire Matush as its baseball coach Dec. 5.
“It was a tough decision for me to leave Monessen,” Matush said.
Matush’s Greyhounds qualified for the playoffs five times (2013-2014) and (2017-19).
Monessen defeated Western Beaver in the first-round of the 2018 playoffs for what is believed the program’s first postseason victory.
The Greyhounds’ best season under Matush came in 2019 when they went 12-7 overall and finished as the section runnerup before losing to St. Joseph in the opening round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs.
Monessen was expected to have its best team under Matush in 2020 with the return of three pitchers. But the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the season.
The Greyhounds won only three of 32 games the past two seasons, going 1-14 in 2021 and 2-15 last season.
Matush won his 100th career game in 2019.
“We expected to be pretty good in 2020,” Matush said. “Not playing that season really set the program back. We were coming off such a high having made the playoffs in 2019.
“I felt I did everything I could with the program at Monessen. It’s a fresh start for me. It’s brought back some energy.”
At Bentworth, Matush will have two paid assistants. His assistant at Monessen was Jim Smith, who is expected to join Matush with the Bearcats.
Matush becomes Bentworth’s third coach in as many seasons.
“Bill’s a good, quality coach,” Malecki said.
“We’ve seen him coach against us through the years and now we’re happy to have him on our side. He has a lot of experience.
“We know what we have in him and we’re glad he’s on our side now.”
Bentworth will compete in the WPIAL Class 2A Section 1 with Beth-Center, Burgettstown Chartiers-Houston, Charleroi, Frazier and Washington.
“It’s a pretty tough section but it’s a new group of teams to compete against,” Matush said. “Burgettstown returns a real strong team and I know the other schools all have strong baseball traditions. I’m excited to get started.”