Kent State Wrestling Camps - Kent State University

Kent State Wrestling Camps

Head Coach Jim Andrassy

Head Coach and Camp Director Jim Andrassy

• MAC Champion 1992
• 2-Time NCAA Division I Qualifier (Kent State)

Jim Andrassy enters his sixth season as the head coach at Kent State University and his 18th year overall affiliated with the wrestling program. In a span of five seasons as head coach, Andrassy (pronounced ANN-druh-see) has taken the Golden Flashes from the bottom of the MAC standings to a national top 25 ranking.

Last season under Andrassy, KSU posted a 15-4 record in dual meets and finished second at the Mid-American Conference Championships. A number of individuals had career-best seasons, including Kurt Gross becoming only the sixth KSU wrestler to win more than 100 matches (105 wins).

Eight of Kent State’s 10 starters from 2007-08 season boasted winning records in MAC duals and seven finished in the top three spots at the MAC Championships. Four different Golden Flashes earned bids to the NCAA Championships, including Nic Bedelyon, who won a MAC Championship at 125 pounds.

Heading into the 2008-09 season, Kent State is ranked in the preseason for the first time in school history (23rd, W.I.N. Magazine).

Prior to being named the head coach in 2003, Andrassy was an assistant coach for the Golden Flashes for the previous nine seasons — the last six as a full-time assistant — after earning four letters and a MAC individual title as a wrestler from 1991-94. He replaced Frank Romano who retired following seven seasons as head coach.

“Coach Andrassy is one of the best young wrestling coaches in America.,” said Kent State Director of Athletics Laing Kennedy. “The academics and character of the student-athletes he has brought in is a testament to his recruiting ability.
“Under Jim, we have a program that can compete and succeed nationally,” Kennedy added.

Following his collegiate career, Andrassy joined the Kent State wrestling staff as a student assistant for one year while finishing his degree, then spent another as a volunteer coach and a third as a graduate assistant prior to being elevated to a full-time assistant in 1997.

KSU has finished in the top three at the MAC Championships in each of the last four seasons. The Golden Flashes have tallied 58 dual meet victories in Andrassy’s four seasons as a head coach and 116 wins in his time as an assistant coach. During his tenure on the staff, Andrassy helped bring in some of the nation’s top recruiting classes, including a national top 10 class last season and a top 20 class this year.

Andrassy is just the sixth head coach in the 75-year history of Kent State wrestling, joining A.S. Roberts (1927-29), Joe Tabor (1942-43), Joe Begala (1929-42, ’45-71), Ron Gray (1971-96) and Romano (1996-2003).

“I’m very excited that Laing Kennedy and Kent State have given me the opportunity to be the head coach,” said Andrassy upon his hiring. “Since I was recruited here in 1990, this is a position I’ve always wanted. I’m looking forward to continuing the tradition of Kent State wrestling and making the program even more of a national power.”

As a wrestler at Kent State, Andrassy posted a career record of 106-25-1 and ranks fourth in all-time victories at the school. He was 26-6 his junior season en route to the MAC championship at 158 pounds and finished 27-7 as a senior, earning one of the MAC’s wildcard bids to the NCAA Championships. At the national meet, he won two of his four matches and finished one victory away from All-America status.

Andrassy, 36, earned a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communications from Kent State in 1995 and a master’s in sport management in 2002. Since 2000, he has served as a part-time instructor in KSU’s physical education department.

A native of Macedonia, Ohio, he and his wife Jennifer, reside in Stow with their daughters, Megan, Emily and Ryann.

Courtesy: Kent State Athletic Communications