UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Casey Cunningham has been named the winner of the 2018 Terry McCann Freestyle Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling. This is the first time that Cunningham has won this prestigious award.
Cunningham has been an assistant coach at Penn State for 10 years, which has won four NCAA team titles in a row, and eight of the last nine NCAA team titles.
He is a coach with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, which is the Regional Training Center affiliated with Penn State. The Nittany Lion WC is among the most successful RTCs in the nation, producing successful freestyle wrestlers on the Senior and age-group levels.
Cunningham was one of the personal coaches of David Taylor, who won a 2018 World gold medal at 86 kg. Taylor was named the 2018 United World Wrestling International Freestyle Wrestler of the Year, as well as the 2018 USA Wrestling Freestyle Wrestler of the Year.
The Nittany Lion WC has produced a number of Senior Freestyle National Team members during Cunningham's years there. Included was 2012 Olympic champion Jake Varner and past World Team members Zain Retherford and Les Sigman. Former Michigan State NCAA champion Franklin Gomez won a World silver medal while a member of the Nittany Lion WC. The club has also produced champions and All-Americans at USA Wrestling's age-group levels.
Prior to joining the staff at Penn State, Cunningham was a head assistant coach at Iowa State, also working with Cael Sanderson. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater Central Michigan, and also did a stint as an assistant coach there.
Cunningham was a successful and talented freestyle wrestler before joining the coaching ranks. He was a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete. Cunningham was a two-time U.S. Open runner-up, and was second in the World Team Trials two times. He was also a 2008 Pan American champion.
He was a 1999 NCAA champion for Central Michigan University, the school's first Div. I national champion. He was also a 1998 NCAA runner-up. He is originally from Middleton, Michigan.