Gilman and Kennedy Added to Oklahoma State Coaching Staff

New Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor has wasted no time in putting together a star-studded staff in Stillwater. A few hours ahead of Taylor’s introductory press conference, Oklahoma State’s wrestling Twitter (X) account announced the addition of two new assistant coaches. 

Jimmy Kennedy will be joining the staff as the Associate Head Coach and Thomas Gilman will be added as an assistant coach. Both Kennedy and Gilman are very familiar with Taylor. 

Kennedy is Taylor’s brother-in-law and has been serving on the Penn State staff for the previous two seasons on Penn State’s coaching staff and was at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club for the 2021-22 campaign. Prior to coming to Penn State, Kennedy was on the Northwestern bench for three years. As an athlete, Kennedy made the NCAA podium in each of his final three years wrestling for Illinois (4,5,5). He was also a Big Ten runner-up in 2008 and placed in the top-three at the conference meet three times. 

Having an experienced assistant like Kennedy was a necessity since Taylor doesn’t have any actual collegiate coaching experience. He should be able to help Taylor get up to speed on the administrative portion of the job. 

Gilman was a teammate of Taylor on the 2020(1) Olympic Team, where he captured a bronze medal at 57 kg. Since April of 2020, Gilman has been in the State College, Pennsylvania area training with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club - no doubt in close association with Taylor. 

This will be Gilman’s first collegiate coaching position, as well. Gilman wrestled collegiately at Iowa and finished in the top-four at the NCAA Tournament in all three of his appearances. He was a one-time Big Ten champion and a national runner-up in 2016. 

Since his graduation, Gilman has sandwiched four world team appearances around his 2020(1) Olympic medal. He is a three-time world finalist with a world championship in 2021. 

Both Kennedy and Gilman were two of the most talked about choices for Taylor’s staff. We’ll see how it rounds out the crew in the coming days or weeks.