The fact that the Illinois wrestling team has four returning All-Americans and is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation does not mean second-year associate head coach Mark Perry is at all pleased.

“People keep telling me how good of a job we’re doing here and this and that, but to me, we haven’t won anything yet. We are getting better, we have jumped to a top-five program in the country, but until we win a national championship and guys starting winning individual titles, there’s going to be a lot of work to put in.”

Wresting is a sport like no other. It is not a sport where you can call up your buddies, go have fun and play for two hours. It’s not like basketball or football or golf.

“It’s a frickin war,” Perry said. “It’s hell, but there’s a lot of pride involved in wrestling and it’s a lifetime of work.”

To say the least, the Stillwater, Okla., native was born into a wrestling family. His dad and many of his uncles wrestled at Oklahoma State and all won NCAA championships. Perry’s uncle, John Smith, is currently the head coach of the No. 2-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling team. He is the all-time winningest coach, not to mention his numerous other NCAA honors.

“Our family is probably the most successful family in the United States for wrestling as far as collegiate national titles, Olympic titles and world championships,” he said. “So it was kind of a given that I was going to be a wrestler from birth.”

Perry began his competitive wrestling career in high school at Blair Academy, a private boarding school in Blairstown, N.J. He compiled a record of 169 wins and seven losses and became a two-time national prep champion. His 39-0 senior season led the team to one of its three national championships during his career, while earning him the 2003 Dan Hodge Junior Trophy as best high school wrestler in the country.

“The first year or two I still did pretty well from the outside looking in, but not as well as I wanted to do. There were a lot of struggles earlier in high school and coming from a family like mine, the goal and expectations are always to be the best,” he said. “As I got later into high school and started to mature and really started to develop physically, it became quite a bit easier for me.”

High school was a stepping stone for Perry. With all his family history at Oklahoma State, one would think his college decision would be easy. Shocking to many people at the time, Perry said, he chose to wrestle for the storied Iowa program.

“A lot of people were pretty upset with me not going to Oklahoma State, especially with Iowa being archrivals. But at the time it was the right decision for me,” Perry said. “(Oklahoma State) had Johny Hendricks, who me and him have been rivals since high school. He was a big reason why I didn’t end up going there.”

With 23 national championships, all coming since 1975, the Iowa wrestling program is one of the most successful athletic programs in NCAA Division I. Iowa continues to sell-out many of its meets and is one of the more popular sports on campus.

“The same things that I saw at Iowa on my recruiting trips are the same things we’re trying to develop here at Illinois. The fan base there is second to none, and the people just appreciate wrestling there,” Perry said. “Obviously you always got your football and your basketball, but people know who run the campus at Iowa. Being a part of a program like that was something I wanted to do and as a coach that’s the same mentality we’re bringing here to Illinois.”

Perry had an outstanding career wrestling for the Hawkeyes. He redshirted his freshman 2003-04 season and recorded a 14-0 record while wrestling unattached at 165 pounds. He then became an All-American in his 2004-05 freshman season, compiling a 32-5 overall record and placing second at the national championships, losing to Hendricks in the title match.

Perry stepped up a weight class his sophomore season, wrestling at 174 pounds. Compiling a 21-4 regular-season record and placing third at the NCAA Championships earned him another All-American honor. Growing up with the expectation of being the best, second- and third-place finishes at the NCAAs in his first two seasons were far from satisfying.

“Going into college, I expected to win. It sucked. It was probably the hardest time as far as wrestling goes,” he said. “When those matches are over and reality kind of hits you that you didn’t win, you start second-guessing things you did throughout the season.”

Perry’s frustrations were put to the test his junior year as he recorded a 32-5 overall mark and found himself competing against Hendricks yet again for the 165-pound title. This time, Perry found himself in the winners’ circle, defeating Hendricks 4-3 to capture his first NCAA Championship.

“Winning that first championship, especially against my archrival,  Johny Hendricks, was pretty special to say the least,” he said. “He had beaten me several times in really close matches, you know, beating me in the high school national finals and then the NCAA finals my freshman year. It felt pretty good to stick it to him his last match because he never wrestled again after that, and I know he loses sleep over that.”

Winning only one national championship was not enough for Perry. After arthroscopic knee surgery forced him to miss part of the Big Ten dual season his senior year, Perry came back to become the 14th two-time NCAA champion with a win over Michigan’s Eric Tannenbaum 5-2.

Inspired by his dad, Perry had the desire to become a college coach. In 2009, he was hired by Cal Poly to serve as the top assistant coach. After his first season with the Mustangs, he was named the co-head coach.

After serving only one year in that position, Illinois took note of Perry’s competitive nature and will to win. Head coach Jim Heffernan announced in April 2011 that the two-time NCAA champion would join the Illini coaching staff as an associate head coach.

As a coach, Perry describes himself as very energetic and at times “too emotional.”

“He’s super enthusiastic and a real fan of wrestling,” junior Mario Gonzalez said. “He just brings a lot of intensity to the room, and he’s not gonna stop until we reach the top.”

Perry’s coaching style reflects his own career as a wrestler. With his passion and determination, his goal is to take the Illinois wrestling program to a new level. Once he steps into the wrestling room, senior wrestler B.J. Futrell describes Perry as “strictly business.”

“He’s a great coach. He has already had a phenomenal impact on the program. He’s brought in a lot of fire, a lot of passion and just new blood and excitement to the room,” Futrell said. “He’s still hungry even though he has accomplished so much. When he gives us those stories about his college experience, he’s not really satisfied with it. Being a two-time national champ, you’d think he’d be pretty satisfied, but he just has that hunger and that drive even after so long.”

With some of the best recruiting classes in the nation the past two years, Perry says the program will make a run for a national championship in the near future. He says he plans to be a head coach later in his career, but now he is focused on winning with the Illini.

“Nothing is ever automatic where you’re guaranteed to win,” he said, “But I want to be a coach that consistently has teams ready to make a run for national championships and I know I will.” 

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @yaboybernie11.