David Taylor will add two more Happy Valley residents to his Oklahoma State coaching staff. OSU announced today that Thomas Gilman and Jimmy Kennedy will head to Stillwater to become Cowboy assistant coaches. 

Another Olympian joins the staff.

Welcome to Stillwater, Thomas Gilman!

📰: https://t.co/q0C9gKQ5re#GoPokes l @thomasgilmanusa pic.twitter.com/PEoQmICkac

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) May 9, 2024

DT got his guy.

Welcome to Stillwater, Jimmy Kennedy!

📰: https://t.co/q0C9gKQ5re#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/CBtmNolSJg

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) May 9, 2024

This is a press conference scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday, May 9, where David Taylor will be formally introduced as the new head coach of the Cowboys.

Originally from Council Bluffs, Iowa, Thomas Gilman was a three-time NCAA All-American at Iowa before winning a bronze medal at 57kg at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Additionally, Gilman won a gold medal at the 2021 World Championships and two silvers at the 2017 and 2022 Worlds.

In the spring of 2020, Gilman moved from Iowa City, where he had been training since college, to State College, Pennsylvania, joining the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. He had been competing as recently as last April when he lost in the finals of the Olympic Team Trials. 

Jimmy Kennedy, the new Associate Head Coach, was also a three-time All-American at Illinois, his home state. After graduating in 2011 he immediately began competing in freestyle on the senior circuit, earning medals at several prestigious competitions and making the 2014 World Team.

Kennedy joined the coaching staff of the Northwestern Wildcats 2018 followed by a move to the Penn State staff in 2022, where he was set to start his third season in State College before David Taylor's seismic hiring at Oklahoma State redirected his destiny to Stillwater.