COACHING EXPERIENCE
• Head Coach, Cornell University (2021-present)
• Associate Head Coach, Cornell University (2019-2021)
• Assistant Coach, Cornell University (2013-2018)
• Volunteer Assistant Coach, Cornell University (2011-13)
COACHING ACCOLADES
• Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year (2025)
• Ivy League Coach of the Year (2024)
• NWCA National Coach of the Year (2023)
• EIWA Coach of the Year (2023)
• Ivy League Coach of the Year (2023)
• Ivy League Coach of the Year (2022)
WRESTLING ACCOLADES
• 117-30 Career Record
• NCAA All-American (2x)
• EIWA Champion (2x)
• First Team All-Ivy (4x)
• 2008 Rev Wrestling National Freshman of The Year
EDUCATION
• B.A., Development Sociology, Cornell (2011)
AT CORNELL
Grey joined the Cornell staff in 2011 as a volunteer assistant and two years later was elevated to assistant coach, helping lift Cornell to unprecedented heights. Grey was named associate head coach in 2019 and became the David Dunlop '59 Head Coach of Wrestling in 2021.
Since joining the Big Red staff, Grey has helped the program to 12 Ivy League and nine EIWA titles, as well as top 10 NCAA team finishes each year. Cornell has posted a 158-38 dual meet record and a 69-1 mark in Ivy competition with Grey on the sidelines. Big Red athletes have won 13 NCAA titles, 44 All-America honors, 43 EIWA titles and 66 first-team All-Ivy honors in that span. Grey was instrumental in working with title-winning lightweights, including four-time All-American and 2016 NCAA champion Nahshon Garrett, four-time national champion Yianni Diakomihalis and four-time All-American and two-time national champion Vito Arujau.
In four seasons in charge of the program, Grey has won four Ivy League and three EIWA Championships and coached four national champions, 13 All-Americans and 12 EIWA champions. In the 2025 season, Grey led the Big Red to the first Ivy League Tournament Title with five Ivy champions and 10 NCAA qualifiers for the second consecutive season. Grey won EIWA Coach of the Year in 2023 and Ivy League Coach of the Year in 2022, 2023, 2024 and Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year in 2025. The 2023 NWCA National Coach of the Year, Mike Grey '11 has kept the Big Red near the top of the collegiate wrestling podium and led some of the most successful teams in program history.
The Big Red has finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in all four seasons under Grey, including third place in 2023 and second place in 2024. Cornell earned back-to-back top-four finishes for the first time since 2011-12 and recorded the program’s third second-place finish and first since 2011 in 2024.
WRESTLING CAREER
Grey helped the team to second-place finishes at the 2010 and 2011 NCAA championships as a student-athlete, the highest finishes in program history. Grey finished an impressive collegiate career with a 117-30 record and sits third on the Big Red leader board for most major decisions. A four-time NCAA qualifier, he was named the 2008 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the 2008 Rev Wrestling Freshman of the Year. Grey was also a four-time All-Ivy first team selection, as well as a two-time EIWA champion. He placed sixth at the NCAA tournament in both his rookie season and his senior season, earning him All-American status twice. He graduated with a degree in Development Sociology in 2011.
Grey was honored with the Andy Noel Leadership Award during his junior campaign and in his senior season he served as the team captain. Following his final campaign, Grey was honored with the Eric LaFrance “Tough Guy” Award for the wrestler showing impressive strength through adversity.
Grey was also a highly decorated high school wrestler and the first four-time state champion in New Jersey history. He posted a 158-2 career record.
PERSONAL
Grey and his wife, Kaille, reside in Ithaca with their sons, Declan and Abel, and daughter, Delaney. His brother, Mark, was a four-year member of the Big Red wrestling team.
*Updated May 2025
