Chuck KearneyIn fact, Kearney comes to USM with over 20 years of coaching experience, a decade of that at the helm at Oregon. While at the Eugene, Oregon school, Kearney coached 24 Pac-10 champions and 16 NCAA Division I All-Americans. Kearney also earned the distinction of mentoring the first NCAA champion at Oregon in 37 years, Shane Webster, 184-pound titlewinner at the 2006 NCAAs. Six of his recruiting classes were ranked in the top 20 by "Amateur Wrestling News," two of which were in the top 10.
Prior to becoming a coach, Kearney built a successful on-the-mat career. The native of McMinnville, Oregon was a two-time high school state champ who then went on to wrestle for two years at Oklahoma State before returning to his home state. In two years as an Oregon Duck wrestler, Kearney was a Pac-10 champ and earned All-American honors at 177 pounds at the 1988 NCAAs.
In addition to coaching, Kearney has served as the Director of Athletic Alumni Development at the University of Oregon, along with managing every facet of Oregon Wrestling Camps. He currently works as both an accountability coach for an international IT training company and as a baseball and wrestling coach in Eugene, Ore.
"Coach Kearney is an outstanding leader, recruiter, and coach, with an impressive list of accomplishments" said USM Athletic Director Rob Miller. "He's ready to build a winning program at USM, and I'm excited to see where he takes our wrestling program."
"It is an absolute honor to be named the first head wrestling coach at Saint Mary," said Kearney. "I look forward to building a team that competes hard on the mat and performs exceptionally well in the classroom."
Both new wrestling programs at University of Saint Mary are slated to first take the mat in the 2016-17 academic year, competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The men's mat program will be the ninth intercollegiate sports program at the school; women's wrestling will become the Spires' tenth athletic program for USM women.
The University of Saint Mary (USM) is a private liberal arts university in Leavenworth, Kansas. Established as a school for women in 1923, it is now co-educational. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,000 students.
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