Kansas Wesleyan - Jimmy May named first coach

Kansas Wesleyan adds wrestling to sport offerings, May named as first coach

Kansas Wesleyan University has added wrestling to its varsity sports lineup and has hired Hall of Famer Jimmy May as its first coach announced director of athletics Mike Hermann.

University officials recently approved the addition of the sports to increase opportunities for students and student-athletes. The addition of wrestling, along with the addition of men's and women's bowling announced earlier this month, are the first sport additions since the reinstatement of men's tennis and the addition of women's tennis for the 2000-01 year. The addition of wrestling brings KWU's total sport offerings to 23.

Wrestling has been a championship sport at the NAIA level for the last 57 years and is only one of two NAIA Championship level sports not sponsored by KWU, swimming and diving being the other. The 58th Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships were held at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, March 6-7.

KWU joins a growing list of colleges adding wrestling to their sport rosters, including 43 men's wrestling teams in the NAIA, four in Kansas: Benedictine College, Baker University, and fellow KCAC member institutions Bethany College and Ottawa University. There are currently 280,000 high school students actively engaged in wrestling at the secondary education level. In Kansas, there are 204 schools that sponsor wrestling with over 5,100 participants according to a 2013 NAIA report.

"Wrestling has long history in Kansas high schools and is growing at the collegiate level in this state," Hermann added. "The addition of wrestling will give a new group of young men a chance to continue the sport at our University."

KWU announces the hiring of Hall of Fame Coach Jimmy May to lead the program. May is no stranger to starting collegiate wrestling programs, having launched the program at Baker University in 2009-10 and served as the program's head coach and helped build the program into a national power.

"We fortunate to have someone of Jimmy's experience to launch our program. Not only does he have a strong background in the sport, he's successfully launched a similar program at Baker, right here in Kansas. It was easy to see during the search process that he has a passion for the sport and for developing young men through wrestling."

In the program's first two seasons, the Wildcats compiled an 11-0 in dual record, finished second in the Kansas Cup, third in the Central Region and 16th in the NAIA National Championships, which qualified them for the prestigious NWCA Cliff Keen National Dual Championships. In the third year of the program, Baker Wrestling finished ninth in the NAIA rankings and had 4 NAIA All-Americans, increasing the All-American total to six wrestlers in the span of just three seasons. In four seasons under May's direction, Baker finished second twice, first once and third once in the Kansas Cup.

May served the Clark County (Nevada) School District from 1977 to 2008 as athletic director, dean, teacher and coach. He coached in the Nevada high school system for 31 years, along with a two-year stint as an assistant wrestling coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As a head wrestling coach at Eldorado High School, May's teams won 18 (4A) Regional Championships and 10 (4A) Nevada State Championships. He coached 63 individual state champions and 19 high school All-Americans. His historic run of state championships has been highlighted as the "Dynasty in the Desert," and the wrestling facility at Eldorado High School is named in his honor. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Wrestling Coaches Association. In 2009 Coach May was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (Nevada Chapter) and Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame. In February, May was inducted into the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame.

May is a cum laude graduate from the University of Central Missouri and earned his master's degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. May was a two-time MIAA Champion and a member of the University of Central Missouri Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Kansas Wesleyan is a member of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). KWU is a charter member of the KCAC, with ties going back to the conference's current governance structure originating in 1929. KWU currently offers opportunities in 20 sports in nine women's sports (basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field and volleyball), nine men's sports (baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field) and two co-educational sports (competitive cheer and competitive dance).

MEDIA CONTACT: David Toelle, Sports Information Director, sports.info@kwu.edu, 785.827.5541 ext 3146
ATHLETICS CONTACT: Mike Hermann, Director of Athletics, mike.hermann@kwu.edu, 785.827.5541 ext 3232