Mike Kelly, a coach with more than 20 years of experience at the youth, high school and college levels, enters his first season as assistant head wrestling coach at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2014-15.
Kelly most recently served as an assistant coach at UW-Parkside (2014) and Harper (Ill.) College (2001-13). While at Harper, Kelly helped lead the Hawks to three NJCAA national championships (2001, 2006, 2010) and three runner-up finishes.
“We are really excited to have Mike on board,” Shuck said. “He has an incredible passion for wrestling. Mike’s extensive coaching experience at all levels, coupled with his success as a wrestler and a grappler, will be a huge asset for our wrestlers’ development.”
A distinguished wrestler, Kelly was a junior college All-American at Harper and captain for the Eastern Illinois University wrestling team from 1998-2000. Kelly has earned four bronze medals (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), one silver (2012) and one gold (2013) competing at the Unifight World Championships in submission grappling, a style that focuses on clinch and ground fighting using wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu and sambo techniques. He has also taken part in Northwestern University’s Midlands Championships in 16 consecutive years, a tournament record.
Kelly won the World Team Trials in grappling (pankration submission) in August and will participate at the 2014 Unifight World Championships in Kecskemet, Hungary, on Oct. 23-24.
A former Marine, Kelly earned his bachelor’s in physical education from Easter Illinois in 2002. He received his master’s in instructional leadership with a Type 75 certification from Argosy (Ill.) University in 2006.
Kelly has worked several camps over the last several years, including a stint as camp coordinator at William Rainey College (Palatine, Ill.) from 1998-2012.
