Jamill Kelly, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist, joined the Stanford wrestling staff in September 2014. He enters his fourth season as an associate head coach in 2017-18.
During his time on The Farm, Stanford has sent 13 wrestlers to the national tournament a total of 20 times. The Cardinal produced a program-best nine NCAA qualifiers in 2017. Four different Cardinal have earned All-America honors under Kelly, including the first freshman All-American in program history (Joey McKenna, 3rd - 141 pounds). Stanford's 19th-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Championships at Madison Square Garden was its fourth-best standing and sixth top 20 mark in program history.
Stanford has gone 32-11 in duals with Kelly on staff. The Cardinal has also seen success at the Pac-12 Tournament during Kelly's time on The Farm, including a runner-up mark in 2017 which tied for its best finish in school history. Stanford has captured seven individual Pac-12 titles during the past three seasons.
Kelly came to The Farm after serving two years as an assistant at North Carolina State (2012-14). In 2014, NC State produced its sixth individual national champion as 285-pounder Nick Gwiazdowski knocked off the tournament’s No. 1 seed for the title. Additionally with the assistance of Kelly, the Wolfpack posted back-to-back nationally-ranked recruiting classes in 2013 and 2014.
Kelly, originally from Atwater, Calif., has also spent time at Cal Poly and Harvard as an assistant coach. While at Cal Poly, four Mustang wrestlers qualified for the NCAA championships with two garnering All-America honors.
“As a coach, Jamill's track record for developing elite student-athletes speaks for itself,” said Stanford head coach Jason Borrelli. "North Carolina State and Cal Poly had wrestlers in the NCAA finals while Jamill was on staff, and Harvard also produced All-Americans during his tenure."
Kelly, who was a two-year starter and team captain at Oklahoma State, traveled to the 2012 Olympics in London as part of the support staff for USA Wrestling. He also coached the U.S. Junior World Freestyle Team in 2007 and on the U.S. Freestyle Tour Team in 2006.
Following the 2013 season, Kelly was named the Social Media Assistant Coach of the Year by Elite Level Sports Marketing and the National Wrestling Coaches Association.