Bethlehem, PA  - The Lehigh wrestling program has announced that Kerry  McCoy will join its coaching staff for the 2000-01 season.  McCoy comes to  Lehigh after serving as an assistant at Penn State University since 1997.   
 McCoy will serve as a volunteer assistant for Lehigh and will use Lehigh's facilities to train for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. McCoy is one of two members of the Lehigh program to be a member of the United States Olympic  team with head coach Greg Strobel being the other. McCoy qualified for the Olympics at 286 lbs. by defeating Stephen Neal of Bakersfield, California by scores of 4-1 and 6-4. Neal was the NCAA champion in 1998 & 1999. 
 "The addition of Kerry McCoy to our staff is very significant in that he brings a lot of experience and success," head coach Greg Strobel says. "Obviously Kerry is a tremendous athlete and a tremendous wrestler, but he will also be able to workout with our heavier weights and offer valuable insight." 
 McCoy's Olympic berth caps a steady rise in his career which has seen him finish sixth at the United States National Tournament six years ago.  In each succeeding year McCoy moved up one place. While an undergraduate, McCoy accumulated an impressive 150-18 overall record and won NCAA heavyweight championships in 1994 and 1997. He won 131 of his last 132 matches, including an 88-match winning streak, which was the fourth-longest in NCAA history.  McCoy was the 1997 Hodge Award winner as W.I.N. Magazine's Wrestler-of-the-Year. His 47 wins in 1994 are a school record as are his 34 career falls. 
 After the 2000 Olympics, McCoy has expressed interest in taking graduate  level courses at Lehigh while remaining a part of the staff as a volunteer  assistant.