Penn State and Oklahoma State Make Staff Additions

Friday afternoon saw two college wrestling heavyweights announce changes to their respective coaching staffs. Both happened to involve Penn State alums. 

With Jimmy Kennedy heading to Stillwater for a spot on new coach David Taylor’s staff at Oklahoma State, the Nittany Lions had a vacancy on their staff. Cael Sanderson didn’t have to look far to find Kennedy’s replacement. 

Two-time NCAA champion Nick Lee will remain in State College and officially join the Penn State staff. Lee was a world team member last year at 65 kg and recently fell in the Olympic Trials finals to fellow Penn State alum Zain Retherford. Lee traveled to Turkey with Retherford to help him qualify the weight for the 2024 Olympic Games. 

Lee was 116-13 across five seasons during his competitive career with the Nittany Lions. He earned NCAA All-American honors in each of his four NCAA Tournaments - placing fifth twice and finishing his career with back-to-back titles at 141 lbs. Lee also was a three-time Big Ten finalist, who won his lone title during his final campaign. 

Sanderson announced the hire on the “Strong and Grateful” podcast with Nittany Lions broadcaster Jeff Byers. 

The other coaching announcement was in reference to the staff that Taylor is assembling at Oklahoma State. He’ll bring in former teammate, Bryan Pearsall, as the team's recruiting coordinator. Pearsall comes to Oklahoma State after spending the last seven years on staff as an associate head coach at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his stint at Penn, Pearsall also coached at Army West Point and the Rutgers’ Scarlet Knights Wrestling Club. 

While at Penn, Pearsall was a key figure in the recruiting efforts that landed ranked classes in each of the last three years (2023 - #20; 2022 - #18, 2021 - #23). Those strong recruiting classes were a part of 

Pearsall was a national qualifier for Penn State in 2013 after finishing fifth in the Big Ten at 141 lbs.