Jamill Kelly

Larry Jamill Kelly (born October 25, 1977) is an American freestyle wrestler. He represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games where he earned a silver medal in men's freestyle wrestling at 66 kg. Kelly is currently a part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wrestling coaching staff, as well as being the head coach for the Tar Heel Wrestling Club RTC in Chapel Hill.

Early life


Kelly was born in Atwater, California, where he attended Atwater High School and placed fourth in the California state wrestling tournament as a senior. He spent one year at Lassen Community College before transferring to Oklahoma State, where he became a three-time letter winner and two-time NCAA qualifier.

2004 Olympics
Though he never won a high school state title or a college national title, Kelly won the 2004 USA Nationals and US Olympic trials at 66 kg (145.5 lbs) to represent the United States in Athens. After winning both pool matches by a 3-0 score, he defeated eventual bronze medalist Makhach Murtazaliev of Russia in the semifinal, 3-1. In the gold medal match, Kelly faced Ukrainian Elbrus Tedeyev. Tedeyev would win the gold by a 3-1 score, with Kelly finishing as an Olympic silver medalist.

Coaching career
Up until August 2010 he was the head coach of Dallas Dynamite Wrestling Club in Dallas, Texas. In 2015, he became a guest wrestling coach for Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockhold and Cain Velasquez, all from the American Kickboxing Academy. Kelly has coached at Cal Poly and NC State University, and was an Associate Head Wrestling Coach at Stanford University. Kelly coached at Arizona State University from May 2018 until March 2020. In October 2020, Kelly was named as an assistant coach at UNC-Chapel Hill.