SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Jamill Kelly, silver medalist in the 2004 Summer Olympics, has been hired as an assistant wrestling coach at Cal Poly.

The announcement was made Tuesday by Mustang director of athletics Don Oberhelman as well as Brendan Buckley, hired June 21 as Cal Poly’s head wrestling coach. Buckley previously was head coach at Columbia for 11 seasons.

Kelly was a two-time NCAA qualifier wrestling for Oklahoma State and lettered twice in the sport after attending Lassen Community College for one year. He is a graduate of Atwater High School near Merced.

“I am thrilled to begin working with an Olympic silver medalist like Kelly,” said Buckley. “It was important that we hire someone with California roots, a strong freestyle wrestling background, and someone that cannot only teach the sport but also serve as a terrific role model to our student-athletes.

“On all accounts, Jamill excels and I truly believe we hit a grand slam with his hiring,” Buckley added. “This was our first step in the next era of Cal Poly wrestling and I am excited to begin working with Jamill.”

Kelly was a silver medalist at 66 kilograms/145.5 pounds in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and was a member of the 2005 U.S. Freestyle World Team.

Other accomplishments on the mat include a pair of USA Senior national titles, 2003 Pan Am Games silver medalist and 2001 Pan Am Championships silver medalist. He was a 2004 U.S. Nationals champion, placed second at the 2002 U.S. Nationals and third at the 2001 U.S. Nationals. 

Kelly also was a member of Freestyle Team USA four times and was a 2001 University Nationals champion. He was a U.S. Olympic Trials champion in 2004 and a member of the 2003 World Team.

Kelly was Big 12 Conference runner-up in 2000 at Oklahoma State, a two-year Cowboy starter and a team captain. Prior to joining the OSU program, Kelly attended Lassen College, where he was second at the 1996 NJCAA Junior College Nationals. He was fourth in the 1995 California high school state championships, competing for Atwater High School.

Following his competition days, Kelly has served as U.S. Junior World Freestyle Team coach, which competed in Beijing, China, in 2007; coached a U.S. freestyle tour team that competed in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, in 2006; and assisted with the coaching of junior-level teams while working in Massachusetts.

He also served a year as head assistant wrestling coach at Harvard and most recently was head coach of Dallas Dynamite Wrestling Club in Texas.

Kelly was a coach of the Cowboy Wrestling Club in Stillwater, Okla. from 2001-06, developing the club in the community and coaching over 100 area youth athletes. He also was a part of the coaching staff at Oklahoma State as an administrative assistant as well as assisting with the development of numerous All-American wrestlers there during his tenure.