Dock Kelly III was named the first head wrestling coach in Lourdes University history in December of 2015 and charged with building the program from scratch.
The Gray Wolves finished in fourth place at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships three straight seasons from 2018 through 2020 before moving to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference in 2020-2021 where Lourdes has placed third in each of its first two seasons.
Under Kelly’s guidance, Lourdes finished 33rd, 25th, and 34th at the NAIA National Championships in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively before posting a program-best 16th place finish in 2021. In 2022, the Gray Wolves posted a 21st place effort and added a 31st place finish in 2023.
Kelly produced the school’s first NAIA All-American in 2019 when Nick Henneman finished in fourth place in the 141-pound weight class. Henneman earned All-American status again in 2021 with his fifth place finish before becoming a three-time All-American in 2022 placing seventh. Noah Clary also earned All-American status in 2021, finishing eighth at 174 pounds.
Kelly had a school-record five wrestlers qualify for the NAIA National Championships in 2019 a feat that the Gray Wolves matches with five grapplers at nationals again in 2021. The team bettered that mark in 2022 sending six wrestlers to the national stage.
Kelly was instrumental in developing the Gray Wolves’ first NAIA National Qualifier, Ray Porter, at 125 pounds in 2017, and Porter went on to become a four-time national qualifier. In all, under Kelly’s tutelage, Lourdes has had 25 total NAIA National Qualifiers.
Since joining the WHAC, Kelly has produced two conference champions and 11 Second Team All-WHAC honorees. He also mentored the WHAC Newcomer of the Year in 2022-2023. In addition, he was named the WHAC Coach of Character for 2020-2021.
Kelly produced the Sooner Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Year in 2020 after coaching the SAC Newcomer of the Year in both 2018 and 2019. Another grappler registered the most falls at the SAC Championships in 2019. Kelly also had seven competitors named SAC Wrestler of the Week for their work on the mats with two being named NAIA National Wrestler of the Week.
In his first seven seasons leading the Gray Wolves, Lourdes has posted a 41-58 record in dual action. The 2019-2020 season Kelly led Lourdes to an 11-8 mark in duals, a school record for wins and the first season in program history to finish over .500.
In the classroom, Kelly’s student-athletes produced 14 members of the SAC All-Academic Team while 11 have been named to the WHAC All-Academic Team. A total of 22 of Kelly’s wrestlers have earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete accolades.
Kelly arrived at Lourdes from Anderson University (S.C.) where he has spent the last 16 years as the Trojans’ head coach. While at Anderson, Kelly produced NCAA Division II national champions, one national runner-up, four All-Americans, and 12 NCAA All-Academic Team members. He arrived at Anderson in 2000 and had 17 NCAA Division II national qualifiers as well.
Prior to Anderson, Kelly was an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While with the Spartans, he had 15 wrestlers earn a spot in the NCAA Division I national championships, with eight winning individual Southern Conference titles. He was a member of the coaching staff in 1998 which won the SoCon title.
Kelly wrestled at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, N.C. where he posted a 24-3 record as a senior. Following his high school career, he spent one season at Chowan University before transferring to UNC Greensboro and was a member of the school’s first-ever wrestling program. Kelly qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships twice and earned 50 wins during his career, ranking in the top-10 in program history.
A graduate of UNC Greensboro, Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree in geography in 1996 and a bachelor’s degree in communications one year later.
