BELLAIRE — Eric Vasey thought it was a good idea when he applied for the head wrestling coach’s position at Bellaire High School.

That decision proved to be the right one as the Bellaire Local Schools Board of Education unanimously approved the 42-year-old Bellaire High alum to take over the program during a recent meeting.

“I actually come from a family of wrestling. All the Donahues from St. John Central are my cousins. I have a good background in wrestling.”

Vasey is no stranger to the Big Reds’ program.

“I have been coaching in the system for the last 10 years,” Vasey, who graduated in 1998, explained. “I coached in the youth program for seven years and for the last three I’ve been with the junior high/varsity program.”

Vasey takes over for Mike Rose who stepped down after last season.

“I’ve always enjoyed coaching wrestling … you never really get away from the sport. I wanted to be involved with it,” he noted. “When Mike told me he was stepping down I thought it would be a great opportunity.”

Vasey’s oldest son, Grant, wrestles. He will be a sophomore and was a Division III Eastern district qualifier last winter. His youngest son, Ethan, is a fifth-grader and wrestles in the youth program.

“We’re going to be a young team. We only finished with two varsity wrestlers last season. I have three or four incoming freshmen who have a lot of potential to go with the two we have returning,” Coach Vasey noted of his team for next season. “We’re hoping to get a few others to come out.”

Numbers have been a problem at Bellaire for the past several seasons, something Vasey is quite aware of.

“There has definitely been a problem with the numbers,” he allowed. “My goal is to get the numbers up. Our pee-wee program is coming along really well under the leadership of Joe Honeywell and our youth system has good numbers. Over the past few years I’ve seen the same faces coming out, and that’s a good thing.”

Since he has been around most of the kids involved in the program, Vasey said the transition should be smooth.

“I’ll have a good rapport with the kids. I’ve coached most of them since they started in the youth program,” he said. “I know what they are capable of doing and I also know what their weaknesses are. Hopefully, we can establish something to get them moving forward to meet their goals.”

Vasey is employed by the Perry CPA Group of Wheeling as an accountant.