Not Just Penn State Wrestling’s HC Cael Sanderson, but One More NCAA Coach Celebrates 200 Wins Milestone

Penn State Wrestling has been making waves throughout the collegiate wrestling world with its exceptional performances. In a recent matchup, Nittany Lions defeated the opponent and arch-rivals Iowa Hawkeyes to award their HC Cael Sanderson with 200 wins of his illustrious career with the team. Amid all the discussions surrounding Sanderson, Kent State wrestling entered the conversation.

While Penn State is ranked in first position, Kent State is nowhere to be seen in the collegiate team’s rankings as per the NCAA Coaches Poll released earlier this year. Despite being an unranked team, the team has made it to help their head coach mark the milestone of 200 wins at Kent State. 

200 career wins for wrestling coach

To share ecstatic news among the spectators and supporters of Kent State wrestling, the team took to their official Twitter account to post about their head coach Jim Andrassy‘s recent achievement as a part of the team. Along with a couple of pictures of their head coach, they penned, “200 and counting #StayGolden x #GoFlashes.”

Jim Andrassy earned his 200th win of his career as a coach of Kent State against Bloomsburg by 37-5 last Saturday. Interestingly, Jim achieved this major accomplishment after 31 seasons with the Kent program since 1997. Among these, 18 seasons were spent as the head coach. In 14 of the last 15 seasons under Andrassy, the Golden Flashes have sent two or more qualifiers to the NCAA Championships and five or more qualifiers in nine of those seasons. Andrassy has also helped produce 11 All-American performances from six different wrestlers including 2011 national champion Dustin Kilgore. Interestingly, Andrassy has significant achievements for Kent as a wrestler as well.

He has picked up 106 wins as a collegiate wrestler. He notched 100 victories in only four seasons. He was 26-6 his junior season and finished 27-7 as a senior, earning one of the MAC’s wildcard bids to the NCAA Championships. Since 2000, Jim Andrassy has been offering the team with guidance as a full-time instructor at Kent University’s physical education department.

In the exclusive interview with Kentwired, Andrassy said, “[Well], it means I’ve been here a long time!…Kent has been really good to me, and I’ve been here long enough to accumulate some wins, there are certain wins I’ll always remember and certain losses I’ll always remember so it’s been good.” However, the triumph for the team is bittersweet. 

Kent State’s bittersweet celebration

After handing over defeat to Bloomsburg, the Kent State wrestling team locked horns against Ohio University Bobcats this Friday. Directly after embarking on the journey to dominate Ohio University, Kent State faced something unexpected. Consequently, the team returned home to the MAC center after getting defeated by the Bobcats by 34-15. 

Read More: “Sicko”: Penn State’s Carter Starocci Leaves Olympic Wrestling Champion Awed After Intense Hawkeyes Showdown

Besides this, Kent State fell to 5-14 on the season, whereas Ohio moved to 6-5. Now the team needs help to uplift their rank, as they are at the bottom two spots in the MAC West Division. This can only be done in the upcoming match against Central Michigan on 16th Feb. Will Kent State be able to overcome intense situations while adding 201 wins to their Coach’s collection?

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