Kerry McCoy, 1997 Hodge Trophy winner

By Stanford Sports Information
Kerry McCoy, a two-time Olympian, four-time World Cup Champion and three-time NCAA All-American, finished his first year as the head coach of the Stanford wrestling program in 2005-06.

Kerry McCoy

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.

Kerry McCoy career stats

• Kerry McCoy took an Olympic redshirt in 1996