Mike Clayton’s Ducks of Stevens get Ready for the Year, Talks to TDR TV

Posted on | September 7, 2010 | No Comments

Mike Clayton enters his 4th season leading the Stevens Institute of Technology wrestling team after being named head coach in August of 2007. A former top assistant at the United States Military Academy and four-year letter winner and NCAA Division I Qualifier at the United States Naval Academy during the 1990’s, Clayton has led the Stevens wrestling program back to prominence in his first two seasons. He was was named the 2008 NWCA Division III Rookie Coach of the Year and the 2009 Centennial Conference Coach of the Year. Clayton has accumulated an overall mark of 20-12 (12-2 in Centennial Conference) in two seasons as the head coach of the Ducks.

In 2008-09, the Ducks went 6-1 in conference for the second-straight season after not winning a Centennial match for three full seasons prior. Furthermore, Clayton led his team back from a tough, 1-5 start, to go 11-3 in the second-half of the season without as many as five starters at times. Clayton helped four different wrestlers reach the 20-win plateau and two Ducks went undefeated in the conference. Clayton guided Stevens to its most-ever wins in program history, 12, besting the previous mark of 11 set back in the 1979-80 season when Stevens was coached by Bob Schwalbenberg. Freshman Ryan Dormann was also a conference champion at 174-lbs. and advanced to the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships.

The Ducks finished 2007-08 with an overall mark of 8-4 and finished the regular season second in the Centennial Conference (6-1 conference). It was their best record since wrestling returned to Hoboken in 2004-05. Clayton guided Senior Brandon MacWhinnie ’08, who was named the Centennial Conference Wrestler of the Year for the second time, to a third place finish at the NCAA’s becoming Stevens’ first wrestler to earn All-American wrestling status. In addition, Stevens also earned a top 20 National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-America Team ranking (19 in the country).

During his three years at Army, Clayton helped produce eight NCAA Championship qualifiers. In his first year with the team, he helped guide Phillip Simpson to his third consecutive All-America certificate and an appearance in the national finals. In 2004-05 and 2005-06, Clayton was instrumental as the Black Knights returned to the national polls. While at West Point, Clayton also helped the program develop its’ first nationally ranked recruiting class (ranked No. 22 nationally in the Wrestling USA Magazine poll).

Prior to arriving at Army, Clayton spent five years as the head coach at Newport News Apprentice School in Virginia. During his time there, Clayton mentored 30 National Collegiate Wrestling Association All-Americans and eight national champions. He also increased the team size from eight wrestlers upon his arrival in 1999 to 30 in 2003 by developing a national recruiting base. Clayton’s 2003-04 roster featured athletes from 14 different states. In addition, the team’s fortunes turned around immensely on the mat. After posting a 0-10 record his first two seasons at the helm, Clayton guided Apprentice School to a 26-11 mark over his final three years.

During those final three years at Apprentice, Clayton delivered a college curriculum in Business Operations/Leadership, Ship Construction and Microsoft Office. He also developed a partnership with the U.S. Naval Academy’s leadership department as part of his Business Operations course.