Stanford, Calif. – Stanford named Kerry McCoy as its wrestling head coach on Thursday. The two-time Olympian, four-time World Cup Champion and three-time NCAA All-American will begin his tenure at the helm of Stanford’s program this summer.
“I’m really excited for the opportunity to be a part of Stanford Wrestling, “said McCoy. “I have always admired the whole Stanford Athletic Department and the standard that the university has set across the country. The opportunity to be a part of that is just awe inspiring.”
“We are very excited that Kerry McCoy is joining our staff, “commented Stanford Director of Athletics Ted Leland. “He brings a great deal of experience to Stanford, having succeeded at the highest levels of wrestling. We are excited about the leadership he will bring to our program and the championship mentality he will provide our student-athletes.”
McCoy has spent the last five seasons with the Lehigh wrestling program in Bethlehem, Pa., where he helped the Mountain Hawks to 14 NCAA All-Americans, two NCAA Champions, and four EIWA Conference Championships. He helped 197-pounder Jon Trenge to a Lehigh-record 133 victories in his career, as well as a trio of top-three finishes at the NCAA Tournament.
Over the last five years, McCoy has also served as the Director of Wrestling and head coach of the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club, where he was responsible for conducting clinics in the local area, promoting the sport of wrestling and fund raising. McCoy has also served on Athlete Advisory committees for USA Wrestling and the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Prior to his arrival at Lehigh, McCoy served as an assistant at Penn State for three seasons, during which the Nittany Lions posted two fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Tournament and produced 10 All-Americans and two NCAA Champions.
McCoy has had tremendous success as an athlete, beginning with his high school career at Longwood in Middle Island, N.Y. McCoy was named the 2005 Friends of Long Island Wrestling Man of the Year and was inducted into the Longwood High School Hall of Fame in 1998. McCoy went on to compete at Penn State, where he accumulated an impressive 150-18 overall record and won NCAA heavyweight championships in 1994 and 1997. McCoy also won three Big Ten titles and won 131 of his last 132 matches at Penn State, including an 88-match winning streak. A three-time All-American, McCoy was named the Penn State Athlete of the Year and the Nittany Lions’ Wrestler of the Year in 1994 and 1997. In his senior year, he was selected as the 1997 Hodge Award winner as W.I.N. Magazine’s Wrestler of the Year. McCoy earned his bachelor’s in marketing from Penn State in 1997.
A two-time Olympian, McCoy took fifth place at the 2000 Olympiad and seventh at the 2004 Games in Athens. In 2000, McCoy qualified for the Olympics at 286 pounds by defeating 1999 World Champion Stephen Neal, by scores of 4-1 and 6-4. In 2004, McCoy won his fifth straight U.S. National Freestyle Wrestling Championship, taking five straight matches and defeating 2003 NCAA champion Steve Mocco in the final, 3-0. His victory put him in the finals of the Olympic Trials, where he bested Tolly Thompson 5-3 and 8-0 to earn the right to represent the United States again at the 2004 Summer Games.
McCoy has been a consistent force on the national scene for the past decade, as he has collected numerous top finishes at the United States National Tournament with a fourth-place finish in 1994; third in 1995; second in 1996 and 1997; fifth in 1998; third in 1999; and first from 2000-03. He is a five-time member of the National team. In 1998 and 2001, he placed fourth at the World Championships, and won a silver medal in 2003. Then, in August of 2003, McCoy won a gold medal at the Pan-Am Games and was honored as the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.
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