Mike Clayton

Mike Clayton returns for his seventh season leading the Stevens Institute of Technology wrestling team.  Clayton has quickly built the program into a national power just nine years after its revival, with the Ducks earning their highest-ever team ranking of No. 16 in 2010-11 while posting the third-best grade-point average (3.551) in the country.   Clayton has seen three of his wrestlers earn a total of five All-America honors, including the program’s top two all-time wins leaders in Brandon MacWhinnie and Joey Favia, as well as multiple Centennial Conference Wrestler of the Year awards.  His teams have also become mainstays in the NWCA Scholar All-America awards, ranking as high as third in the nation.

Clayton’s squads have improved steadily, finishing second in the Centennial Conference in each of his first two seasons and third twice after not winning a single conference dual meet in the three years prior to his arrival.  Several moments in his tenure have been particularly memorable, including the Ducks’ first-ever victory over in-state rival No. 12 The College of New Jersey in 2011-12 and a near-upset of Division I Duke University this past season.  The 2008-09 team also broke a long-standing record for season wins with 12, topping the mark set by the 1979-80 squad during the program’s second revival.

Clayton has accumulated a 61-49-1 (33-11 in the Centennial Conference) record over his six years, earning the 2008 National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Rookie Coach of the Year award and 2009 Centennial Conference Coach of the Year recognition along the way. He has also been named the 2011 U.S. FILA Cadet Team Pan-Am co-Head Coach and trained the U.S. Team to a pair of gold medals in greco and freestyle wrestling in Campeche, Mexico in August of 2011.

A former assistant coach at the United States Military Academy (Army) for three years and Newport News Apprentice School for five years, Clayton returned the Black Knights to the national polls behind eight NCAA Championship qualifiers and a No. 22 nationally ranked recruiting class and mentored 30 National Collegiate Wrestling Association All-Americans, including eight national champions.

A graduate of the United State Naval Academy in 1995 with a bachelor of science degree in political science, the U.S. Navy Supply Corps Lieutenant began his coaching career as an assistant for the Midshipmen, whom he coached for five months before moving to Athens, Ga. To complete the 27-week Navy Supply Corps Officers Basic Qualification School. While there, Clayton earned a spot on the All-Navy wrestling team, capturing a silver medal at the 1996 Armed Forces Championships and placing fourth at the Chattanooga, Tenn., Olympic Regionals.

From 1997-2001, Clayton served in a variety of posts, including as a Supply and Disbursing Officer on the USS Guam from 1997-98, a Hazardous Material Control and Ship’s Store Officer on the USS Nimitz and a Logistics/Purchasing Officer at Fleet Hospital Support Office in Virginia.

During his professional career, Clayton has published a book entitled Championship Training Log for Wrestling, which  helps wrestlers self-assess their habits to ensure healthy and effective training. Clayton enjoys travelling around the country working with coaches and wrestlers through motivational wrestling clinics based on his book (www.Session6wrestling.com). He has presented his training clinics at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center and the US World Team Trials in Council, Bluffs, Iowa at the USA Wrestling Silver Coaches Clinic as well as at high school programs in over 16 states.