Mark Manning celebrates with his athlete Jordan Burroughs, after Burroughs won the 2011 World title at 74 kg in freestyle. Larry Slater photo

Mark Manning (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids) has been named 2011 Freestyle Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling. It is the first time that Manning has received this prestigious award.

This award is named after the late wrestling legend Terry McCann, a 1960 Olympic champion wrestler. McCann was a long-time coach with the successful Mayor Daley Youth Foundation club, which won numerous national titles in freestyle and Greco-Roman and produced champion athletes for the United States. McCann also served as USA Wrestling President and a FILA Bureau member.

Manning has been a very active and successful freestyle coach with USA Wrestling for many years. 

Manning served as a member of the 2011 U.S. World Team coaching staff, and the team placed third in the World Championships final standings with two medalists, including World champion Jordan Burroughs and World bronze medalist Jake Varner.

Manning is Burroughs’ personal coach. Burroughs was the first U.S. freestyle wrestler to win a World title since Bill Zadick in 2006. Manning also coached Burroughs at the Univ. of Nebraska, where he won two NCAA Div. I titles (2009, 2011) and was named the 2011 Dan Hodge Trophy winner as the nation’s best college wrestler.

Burroughs was undefeated in freestyle at 74 kg/163 lbs. in 2011. He won the U.S. Open in April, the U.S. World Team Trials in June and the Ukrainian Memorial International in July. In his first trip to the Senior World Championships, Burroughs won the World gold medal in September. He added a Pan American Games gold medal in October.

Manning was also named FILA’s International Freestyle Coach for 2011, the first U.S. recipient of the award in recent history. He was presented with this award in front of his peers at the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Mo.

He is a coach with the Sunkist Kids, which was second among national clubs at 2011 U.S. Open.

Manning was a 2009 U.S. World Team Coach which competed at the World Championships in Herning, Denmark, placing seventh as a team with two medalists.

Manning was the Head Coach for the 2001 U.S. Freestyle World Team and trained the team for the event. After the attack of September 11, the World Championships were moved from New York to Bulgaria and Manning could not attend the 2001 World Championships due to college coaching responsibilities.

He was also a coach with the 2000 Pan American Championships team, which claimed the team title. Manning was head coach of the 1994 and 1996 Junior World teams, and also coached the 1992 Cadet World team. He was an assistant coach for the 2008 U.S. Junior World Team. He also coached at two U.S. Olympic Festivals. 

He served on the coaching staff of the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic teams. He served as the assistant coach of the 1997 U.S. Freestyle World Team, which placed sixth in the team standings in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The team featured one gold and one silver medalist. Manning was also on the coaching staffs of the eight other U.S. World teams.

He served as USA Wrestling's National Developmental Coach during early 1993, managing the organization's age-group national team programs. 

Manning currently works as the head wrestling coach for Div. I wrestling powerhouse Nebraska. 

In his 11 years at the helm, he has coached 36 of Nebraska’s 91 All-Americans. He has led the Huskers to five top-eight finishes at the NCAA Championships, compared to just eight for the 14 NU coaches before him. He is the winningest coach in Husker history. He was the back-to-back Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2008 and 2009 after guiding Nebraska consecutive fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Championships, including nine All-Americans and a national champion during those two seasons. He also guided Nebraska to its first Big 12 wrestling title ever in 2009. 

Prior to taking over the Cornhusker program, Manning was the head coach at the Univ. of Northern Iowa, helping revive the program during his three seasons there. The Panthers were 11th at the 2000 NCAA Championships, and he coached individual NCAA champion Tony Davis. Manning also served assistant coaching stints at the Univ. of Oklahoma for four seasons and the Univ. of North Carolina for eight years.

As an athlete, Manning was an Olympic Trials finalist in 1988, and placed in the U.S. Nationals four times. He was a two-time NCAA Div. II national champion and three-time All-American for the Univ. of Nebraska-Omaha. Manning has been inducted into the NCAA Div. II Hall of Fame. He was a three-time South Dakota high school state champion from Vermillion, S.D.

PAST TERRY McCANN AWARD WINNERS AS FREESTYLE COACH OF THE YEAR
2011 – Mark Manning, Lincoln, Neb., Sunkist Kids
2010 - Sean Bormet, Naperville, Ill., New York AC
2009 – John Smith, Stillwater, Okla., Gator WC
2008 - Sean Bormet, Naperville, Ill., New York AC
2007 - Lou Rosselli, Columbus, Ohio, New York AC
2006 - Sean Bormet, Naperville, Ill., New York AC
2005 - Mike Duroe, Iowa City, Iowa, Hawkeye TC
2004 - Bobby Douglas, Ames, Iowa, Sunkist Kids
2003 - Tom Brands, Iowa City, Iowa, Hawkeye WC
2002 - Tom Brands, Iowa City, Iowa, Hawkeye WC
2001 - Zeke Jones, Morgantown, W.Va., Sunkist Kids
2000 - John Smith, Stillwater, Okla., Sunkist Kids
1999 - Greg Strobel, Bethlehem, Pa., New York Athletic Club
1998 - John Smith, Stillwater, Okla., Sunkist Kids
1997 - Greg Strobel, Bethlehem, Pa., New York Athletic Club
1996 - Bruce Burnett, Colorado Springs, Colo., National Freestyle Coach
1995 - Bruce Burnett, Colorado Springs, Colo., National Freestyle Coach
1994 - Gene Davis, Colorado Springs, Colo., Athletes In Action
1993 - Joe Seay, Oklahoma City, Okla., Sunkist Kids
1992 - Bobby Douglas, Ames, Iowa, Sunkist Kids