Kerry McCoy

Kerry McCoy is an American amateur wrestler. He is a two-time Olympian, a four-time World Cup Championship and three NCAA All-American. He is currently the head coach of the Maryland University wrestling program.

As head coach of Stanford from 2005- 2008, McCoy made an immediate impact on the program, leading the team to a winning record in his first season as a head coach. Under McCoy's guidance, the team finished 2005-06 with an 8-7 record in dual meets and improved two places at the Pac-10 Championships. In addition, he helped two wrestlers qualify for the NCAA championships and coached sophomore Tanner Gardner to become the 13th All-American in Stanford history.

Last season, during McCoy's second year at the helm of the program, the improvement continued. The Cardinals finished with an 8-8 dual meet record, and climbed another rung higher, to sixth place, on the Pac-10 ladder. With the help of McCoy, five wrestlers placed in the Pac-10 and Gardner captured the program's first individual Pac-10 title since 2004. All five qualified for the NCAA Championships, one of the highest totals of NCAA qualifiers in Cardinal history. Gardner and Josh Zupancic earned All-America honors, the first Stanford pair to do so in the same season since 1967, while freshman Zack Giesen was named the Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year.

Prior to arriving at Stanford, McCoy spent five seasons with the Lehigh wrestling program in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he coached 14 NCAA All-Americans, including two NCAA Champions, and helped the Mountain Hawks to four EIWA Conference titles. McCoy also helped guide 197-pounder Jon Trenge to a Lehigh-record 133 victories in his career and a trio of top-three finishes at the NCAA Championships.

During his time at Lehigh, McCoy 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. In addition, McCoy has served on Athlete Advisory committees for USA Wrestling and the U.S. Olympic Committee. In February, he was named to the U.S. Freestyle World Team coaching staff for the second-straight year.

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, New York. 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. During 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 Degree in marketing from Penn State in 1997.

A two-time Olympian, McCoy took fifth place at the 2000 Olympic Games 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 2000-04. He is a nine-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-American Games and was honored as the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.

McCoy and his wife, Abbie, were married in June in State College, Pa. The couple resides in Palo Alto.

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