Three years ago, Kent State's wrestling associate head coach Matt Hill had an idea.
Seeing the success of the University of Stanford’s outdoor dual wrestling meet against Northwestern University in 2010 — and Virginia Tech’s outdoor practice two years later — prompted Hill to explore the possibility of Kent State holding its own open practice in the center of campus, for everyone to see.
And since the majority of the campus community didn’t fully understand the sport, Hill saw this as an opportunity to give students and faculty a firsthand look at college wrestling.
“It was just mainly to get our name out there, to get our guys a little more publicity,” said head coach Jim Andrassy, who is entering his 13th season as head coach and 26th year overall with the program.