Alex Clemsen has been named the seventh head coach of the Maryland wrestling program, athletic director Damon Evans announced Tuesday.
Clemsen comes to College Park after five years at Missouri, where he served as the program’s associate head coach for the past four seasons. During his time on staff, Clemsen helped Missouri wrestlers earn three NCAA individual titles, 22 All-America honors and five consecutive top-six team finishes at the NCAA championships. Missouri went a combined 84-7 in dual meets during his five seasons.
Clemsen replaces Kerry McCoy, who announced last month that he would step down after the NCAA championships after serving as Terps coach for the past 11 seasons.
“I’m honored to have been selected as the head coach of the Maryland wrestling program,” Clemsen said in a release. “I’d like to thank Director of Athletics Damon Evans, sport supervisor Mark Sherburne and the entire search committee for believing in my vision for this program. I’m excited to compete in the strongest conference in collegiate wrestling and I truly believe this program has what it takes to consistently compete on the national level. I cannot wait to get going with our team and hit the ground running.”
Clemsen, who spent five years as an assistant at Virginia before heading to Missouri, has helped assemble three top-10 recruiting classes and five top-20 recruiting classes during his career.
He coached 38 NCAA qualifiers, six All-Americans and eight Atlantic Coast Conference champions at Virginia, and helped the Cavaliers reach No. 11 in the nation during the 2012-13 season, which stands as a program-best ranking.
Before his time at Virginia, Clemsen served as the director of wrestling operations at Oregon State for two seasons. A 2007 graduate of Edinboro in Pennsylvania, Clemsen was an All-America wrestler and four-time NCAA qualifier. He finished his college career with a 121-35 record.
“We’re thrilled to name Alex Clemsen as our next head wrestling coach,” Evans said in a statement. “Alex is coming to Maryland after spending five years at Missouri, where he was instrumental in producing numerous All-Americans and NCAA Champions. His dedication to developing student-athletes both on and off the mat will serve him well as the leader of our program. It is an exciting time for the Maryland wrestling program.”
