Former national champion and Olympic team member Cary Kolat enters his sixth season at the helm of Campbell wrestling program in 2019-20.
The last three seasons have seen unprecedented success for the Camels with two SoCon tournament titles, plus a regular season SoCon championship, with 13 Camels qualifying for the NCAA Championships, seven SoCon champions and 19 total medalists in SoCon tournament action.
The Camels captured their second SoCon tournament title in three years in 2018-19, also earning their first ever regular season conference championship. CU earned a share of the SoCon dual title with a 5-1 league mark to go along with a 7-1 overall dual record, both program bests.
Campbell sent a school record six to the NCAA Championships in 2019. Eight total Camels earned spots on the podium at the SoCon Championships, with all 10 wrestling for medals.
Kolat was named one of eight finalists for NWCA Coach of the Year, and was named SoCon Coach of the Year following the program's tournament win in Boone, N.C.
During the season, CU earned its first ever top-25 national ranking. The Camels also fashioned a 10th place finish at the prestigious Midlands Championships, an all-time best for the program.
Additionally, Campbell took National Wresting Coaches Association Division I Academic Team honors for the third-straight year. The Camels finished 13th nationally in the standings with an outstanding 3.28 team GPA, posting a top-25 academic finish for the fifth time in program history.
In 2017-18, the Camels boasted a top-three finish in the SoCon and ranked in the top-25 of the NWCA Division I All-Academic team standings. After taking the SoCon Championship in 2017, CU placed third in 2018, and took ninth in the NWCA All-Academic team ranks.
Four Camels made the individual NWCA All-Academic team, including Jere Heino, Austin Kraisser, Andrew Morgan and Quentin Perez, while five medaled at the 2018 SoCon Championships, highlighted by Jere Heino's title at heavyweight.
Following the 2017-18 season, Kolat was named 2017 USA Wrestling Women's Co-Coach of the Year, joined by John Smith for the honor, and named by USA Wrestling. Smith and Kolat were the official 2017 Women's World Team coaches, working with National Coach Terry Steiner and leading the U.S. women in Paris, France to an impressive second-place finish. The team was led by World champion Helen Maroulis, World silver medalist Alli Ragan and World bronze medalist Becka Leathers.
In 2016-17, Kolat led Campbell to its first Southern Conference Championship. After posting a 6-1 record and second place in the regular season, the Camels went 16-4 in the first two rounds of the 2017 SoCon Championships, including a perfect 10-0 mark in the first round, with two Camels claiming individual titles, and six in total making the podium.
The Camels sent a record five student-athletes to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo., the most in program history. Nathan Kraisser earned the first All-American in program history at the 2017 NCAA Championships after defeating Freddie Rodriguez of SIUE, 4-1.
During the 2014-15 season, Kolat led Campbell to a pair of SoCon champions, Nathan Kraisser and Ville Heino. Both competitors earned bids to the NCAA Tournament at Madison Square Garden.Â
On June 2-3, Kolat was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a member of the 41st Annual Class. Kolat is recognized as a Distinguished Member for the Modern Era. The NWHOF recognizes distinguished members as a wrestler who has achieved extraordinary success in national and/or international competition; a coach who has demonstrated great leadership in the profession and who has compiled an outstanding record; or a contributor whose long-term activities have substantially enhanced the development and advancement of the sport.
Kolat came to Buies Creek prior to the 2014-15 season, serving as associate head coach at the University of North Carolina from 2010-14.
During Kolat’s tenure at Chapel Hill, he was involved in all phases of the UNC program and helped improve the team’s national ranking from 57 to 22. In addition, he was head coach at the Olympic regional training center in Chapel Hill where he trained Olympic level athletes.
Kolat has also served on wrestling staffs at Lehigh, Wisconsin, West Virginia and his alma mater, Lock Haven.
A two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion, Kolat was a four-time All-American who went on to compete in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. A three-time World Cup gold medalist, he also won World silver and bronze medals.
His career also includes three U.S. Open championship medals and a pair of Pan-Am Games first-place finishes. Kolat was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1991-2002. In the summer of 2011, Kolat returned to competitive wrestling, was a finalist at the U.S. Open and competed in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.
While at Jefferson-Morgan High in Green County, Pa., Kolat won four-straight state titles and compiled a perfect 137-0 record. He was named Outstanding Wrestler at the state meet each year, an honor no one else had won even twice.
Following his prep career, Kolat was featured in the April 6, 1992 edition of Sports Illustrated.
Kolat began his collegiate career at Penn State, where he advanced to the NCAA final as a freshman. After his sophomore year, he was named All-American for the second-straight season as well as Big Ten Conference wrestler of the year. In two seasons at Penn State, Kolat compiled a 61-6 record, including a 39-1 mark as a sophomore.
He transferred to Lock Haven, where he won his first NCAA Division I national championship in 1996 with a 25-1 record. He finished 25-0 as senior when he won the 142-pound national title. He completed his college wrestling career with a 111-7 overall record and 53 pins.
Kolat earned his Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Lock Haven in 2003. He and his wife, Erin, are parents of two daughters – Zoe and Gracie, and a son Ryder.
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