Jamill KellyRevWrestling.com caught up with Kelly and asked him about his rapid rise in the international style of wrestling, whether he plans to compete again, what makes John Smith successful as a coach, the expectations at Oklahoma State, and what he expects out of Harvard at the NCAA Championships in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
You grew up in California, went to college at Oklahoma State, and now you're out East at Harvard. What do you consider home?
Kelly: That's a good question. I still consider California home. I was there longer than I was any other place. I guess that I can kind of say that I was California-born and Oklahoma-bred. I don't know what I'm going to say for my final part. I would always call California home, though. But I probably made most of my friends … and spent most of my adult life in becoming a better person in Oklahoma.
You went on to win a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games. Some hardcore collegiate fans have a hard time understanding how you could go from never earning All-American status to being the second best wrestler in the world in your weight class. How do you explain your rapid rise in those three or four years following your collegiate career?
Kelly: Mainly it was confidence. Wrestling is so mental. In college, I didn't have the mentality that I should have had to be competitive and be a national champion. What people don't realize is the matches I was losing in college, I was losing like 3-2 and 2-1. I was competitive in every match that I wrestled. I had victories over guys like Michael Lightner of Oklahoma, who was a four-time All-American and NCAA champ. And some other guys as well. I just couldn't get over that hump mentally that had me believing that I could beat those guys on a consistent basis. That was something that I was finally able to get over in freestyle.
Do you think your wrestling style was better suited for freestyle?
Kelly: Honestly, I think I was a lot calmer in freestyle. I had a lot more confidence in it. But the main thing was really just believing in myself. Believing that I'm better than these guys, that I can beat these guys. Instead of just going out there and wrestling not to lose … rather than wrestling to win. I think that was my biggest problem in college. I was only a fourth-place finisher at the state tournament in California. Guys like Eric Guerrero and Stephen Abas, who were in school when I was in school, you know, they were three-time state champs and Junior National champs. When I got in the room at Oklahoma State, I was kind of in awe of some of the guys around me because of what they had accomplished. I assumed that since I hadn't accomplished the things that they had accomplished, that they were better than me. That was something that kind of held me back in college. Say I was wrestling a guy from Iowa, who was a returning All-American or NCAA champ, I would assume he was better than me because of what he had accomplished. For the most part, I was beaten before the match. I wasn't giving myself a chance to win.
Did you have a conversation with John Smith after your collegiate career was over about continuing in freestyle?
Kelly: No, it was kind of weird. My whole decision to go freestyle was totally by chance. I had no intentions to continue to wrestle. There was no reason for me to believe that I could be successful in freestyle and make an Olympic team, considering that I couldn't even All-American in college. Coach Smith was the Olympic coach in 2000 … and I was doing wrestling camps in the summer. We were on our way to Reno, Nevada. We had to stop in Colorado Springs for a training camp he had to attend. I ended up working out with Cary Kolat while we were there. College kids come in during those national team training camps … and the national team guys kind of grab college guys or whatever. I didn't think anything of it. I went to do my camp in Reno … I got back to Stillwater. Teague Moore, who is a good friend of Cary Kolat, gave me a call and said that Cary wanted to work out with me … and asked if I would be interested in coming to West Virginia to train and stay for a week.
Jamill KellyThat right there propelled me to keep wrestling. Once Coach Smith saw me in that arena, he started really pushing and promoting me, saying, 'Hey, you could be successful in this. This may be your niche.' He just kept pushing me in that direction.
Who was the toughest competitor you ever faced here in the United States?
Kelly: I would say McIlravy. He brought so many things to the table. It was so hard to really try to scout him … or have a game plan against him because he was so unorthodox in the way he wrestled. He was strong. He was flexible. He just posed so many different problems. He was by far the most difficult.
After you earned a silver medal at the Olympic Games, you said, "I think this might be time to end this chapter. I don't want to be defined by just wrestling. There are other things I'd like to do." You stopped competing at what some would consider the prime of your career. It seems like wrestlers have a hard time staying retired. Lincoln McIlravy came out of retirement, Melvin Douglas a few years ago, and most recently Kendall Cross. Is there a chance that you would ever consider competing again?
Kelly: You know, I've gone back and forth. I've thought about it a couple times. The competitive nature in you just makes you want to keep competing. The last two World champions at my weight class, in 05 and 06, I beat both of them the last time I wrestled them. So, it kind of makes you think that you're right there. The main reason I decided to stop wrestling was that I just wasn't having any fun anymore. It was becoming a mental strain on me. I wasn't looking forward to practices. I wasn't looking forward to training camps. Wrestling is too hard of a sport. When it starts getting like that, it's time to walk away. I started to thinking back to the reason I did stop wrestling … and realized that it's just time for me to move on … and look at other things.
I saw some pictures on your Web site of you at the Olympic Games with various athletes from other sports. What's your most memorable moment in Athens, non-wrestling related?
Jamill Kelly with Tennis star Andy Roddick at the 2004 Olympics in AthensI was picking his brain, asking him different questions. And he was actually asking me a lot of wrestling questions … and knew a lot about wrestling. He talked about how much he respected the sport of wrestling. Just that experience … being able to walk out with all the best athletes in the country and being able to represent your country, there's no better feeling than that.
Your alma mater, Oklahoma State, is having a bit of a down season by its standards. John Smith was recently quoted as saying that (at least on paper) it does not sound like a team that appears to be challenging for a national championship. Do you think John Smith and the Oklahoma State fans are ever satisfied with anything but a national title?
Kelly: Definitely not. I think that's why schools like Iowa, Minnesota, and Oklahoma State have such a high standard … and why they have had so much success. That's all they will settle for. When a kid comes into the room, that's what he has to have on his mind. Ten national champions is the goal that I'm sure all three schools have every year. Of course, that will probably never happen, but that's the goal that each school is going to set. I think that bar is what separates those higher tier schools from the rest of the country. They train for that … and for the most part, they all believe that. That was one thing that was so good for me. Coach Smith never let me settle for anything. Even after I made the team in 03, he was like, 'You just made the team, but you still have to go win a medal.' That constant reminder that, 'Don't be satisfied until you reach the top' is something that constantly motivates teams like that. That pushes them toward the success that teams like Minnesota, Iowa, and Oklahoma State have. So, of course, unless it's a national championship, it will be a disappointment. They have some young guys who will hopefully step up at the end of this year … and definitely the next couple of years they'll put themselves right back in the picture for a national title.
Is that what makes John Smith so successful, the fact that he's never satisfied with anything but being the best
Jamill Kelly with John Smith and Kevin Jackson at the 2004 Olympics in AthensWhen you have a coach that you can wrestle hard for, that makes a big difference. When you come off the mat, and if you don't succeed, you feel somewhat disappointed that you let him down. You may not necessarily need to look at it like that, but it's just extra motivation when you have somebody in your corner … if you're finding it hard and struggling yourself, well, you know you want to win for your coach, you want to win for him.
Does John Smith still wrestle with the guys in practice? Does he go live at all?
Kelly: When I first got to school there, he wrestled with us a lot. He'll drill with the guys occasionally. The last time me and him wrestled was when I made the Olympic team. He kind of called me out, so we hooked it up a little bit.
How did that go?
Kelly: Um … I won. He probably won't admit to it. But, you know, I won. He was good at really getting the intensity out of me sometimes. You get with the guys in practice, a lot of them, you get to kind of have your way with them, and you know exactly what they're going to do. So, sometimes he would go with me, just because he knew how he could bring another level out of me. He came up to me, just a random day at practice, and was like, 'I know that I could have made the (Olympic) team in 96 and 2000. Now I'm going to see if I could have made the team in 2004. I kind of looked at him like, 'I can't believe you just said that to me.' But he knew that would get kind of a rise out of me and bring my intensity level up. Just little things like that, I think is what makes him a great coach. He knows how to bring that out in each individual.
Did you wrestle with Tom Brands leading up to the Olympic Games?
Kelly: Actually, I didn't. Before the Trials, I wrestled with Terry Brands. I did workout with him in previous years, but not leading up to the Olympics.
You're now an assistant coach at Harvard. You qualified four wrestlers for the NCAA Championships. What are your expectations as a coach from a team standpoint?
Kelly: Well, we have four guys who I think are all capable of earning All-American honors. Actually, all of them have shown in the past that they're capable of even potentially winning an NCAA championship. Robbie Preston lost a close, overtime match to Matt Valenti, who is the defending national champion. Max Meltzer lost a heartbreaker to Ryan Lang, who is ranked No. 1. JP O'Connor is right there in the mix as a freshman. And Louis Caputo, who was a Junior World team member last year, has also been right in the mix with all the top guys in the country. Our goal is definitely to have all four guys All-American, for sure, but we hope to have somebody on that center mat.
When it's all said and done, how great can JP O'Connor be?
Kelly: Really, the sky is the limit. He has a great work ethic. He's just a great kid. He does everything the right away. I think he'll turn a lot of heads, especially for people who haven't seen him wrestle. He's going to pose a lot of problems. We're really excited to see how he does next weekend.
You're on staff at Harvard with Olympic hopeful Jesse Jantzen. What has it been like working with Jantzen? Do you serve as a training partner for him?
Kelly: Yeah, we actually wrestle as much as we can. We're both, of course, helping the team out and getting the team ready. But sometimes we'll wrestle before practice. I'll just give him my view on certain things. It's been good so far. It was kind of soap opera, drama-filled thing when I first came. Since I used to workout with Zack Esposito and also coach Zack … and he beat Zack in the finals … so all that weird stuff like that … but, no … it's been good so far.
Do you have aspirations of becoming a Division I head wrestling coach?
Jamill KellyEditor's Note: If you would like to learn more about Jamill Kelly, check out www.jamillkelly.com
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