A ‘Stout’ family foundation

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in WIN’s recently published Volume 31 Issue 8, which was printed on May 6, 2025. Photo by Aaron Morekin.

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By John Klessinger

Minutes before their 197-pound media-hyped second-round match at the NCAA tournament, Mac and Luke Stout warmed up only a few feet from each other. The moment was surreal for them and for their parents, Bryan and Jennifer Stout. Their oldest brother, Kellan, a 2019 NCAA qualifier at Pitt, said, “It was really challenging and heart-wrenching.”

“We’ve wrestled a thousand times in the basement or at practice,” said Luke. “They almost wrestled at Midlands in 2022,” said Bryan. “We always knew it was a possibility,” he added.

At the Midlands tournament, Luke was the No. 3 seed for Princeton and Mac the No. 4 for Pitt. Both came close to meeting in the final. Each suffered a one-point loss in the semis (Luke to Zac Braunagel from Illinois, 4-3, and Mac to Braxton Amos from Wisconsin, 2-1. Ultimately, Mac finished fourth and Luke fifth.

The Stout wrestling lineage is widespread. The patriarch, Bryan, was a four-time All-American at Clarion. Bryan’s older brother, John, was a Division I wrestler at Wilkes University and a longtime head coach for New Jersey high school powerhouse Southern Regional.

Seven Stouts have or will compete at the NCAA Division I level. That includes Bryan and his three sons, Kellan, Mac, and Luke, as well as John and his two sons, John and Wyatt. Younger John was a multiple-year starter at the University of Pennsylvania, and Wyatt, who just won a New Jersey state title for Southern Regional, will wrestle next year at Penn. Ironically, Bryan was Southern Regional’s first state champion, and Wyatt is currently the school’s last.

When the NCAA Division I brackets were released, Mac was the No. 6 seed and Luke the No. 11 in the 197-pound bracket. One change in seed would move them to the opposite sides of the brackets. Instead, barring an upset, they would meet in the Round-of-16.

“I do not typically look at the brackets right away. My girlfriend looked, and I kind of got the hint,” Mac said. “I looked at her and said, ‘What? I have Luke first?’  She responded, ‘no, second.’”

Mac pushed it “under the rug” for a couple of days. He talked with his mom, dad, Luke, and Kellan. The tight-knit family didn’t want to make it a big deal. “Mac was upset, and he and Luke are best friends. He didn’t want it to be weird,” said Bryan. “Luke was most concerned about Jennifer and I,” Bryan added.

“Mac and Luke handled it better than anyone else,” said Kellan. Kellan, the oldest son of Jennifer and Bryan, was a 2015 PIAA champ (runner-up in 2014) for Western Pennsylvania’s Mt. Lebanon High School. “Following my dad’s footsteps, a four-time All-American, came with self-imposed pressure. We never talked about it. My dad was my coach growing up. After me, he stepped back a lot with Luke and Mac,” said Kellan.

Kellan spent two years at Penn State before transferring to Pitt in 2017. “It was a better fit for me. It was Coach Gavin’s first year as head coach,” said Kellan. Bryan was a coach at Pitt when Gavin won a national title in 2008.

Mac and Luke both give a lot of credit to Kellan for their success. “Kellan paved the path for me and Mac. He gave us a template to follow,” said Luke. They were fortunate to build off where I started, and I kind of backfilled the missing pieces for them,” said Kellan.

Interestingly, Kellan (2014), Luke (2019), and Mac (2021) were all Powerade champions. The Powerade is one of the nation’s premier high school wrestling tournaments held each December at Canon-MacMillan High School in Canonsburg, PA.

Only 17 months apart, Mac and Luke grew up wrestling together. “Luke is our grinder,” said Bryan. “He’s dealt with adversity his whole life,” Bryan continued. “Luke was born with a medical condition called apraxia, a neurological disorder, which can impact movement and speech. Despite the diagnosis, Luke battled through it with intense specialized therapy from the time he was in diapers until the fourth grade.”

As most could imagine, the brothers wrestled often as kids. One day, Mac told Bryan, “Sometimes I let Luke win,” Bryan recalled. “I told him, you are a good brother Mac. But then Mac said, ‘The problem is I think I gave him too much confidence because I can’t beat him anymore.’ Then, he couldn’t for years to come,” emphasized Bryan.

“I beat him up for three years. Coaches had to pull us apart at times. We had a lot of awkward car rides after practice,” Luke chuckled. “I don’t want to sound selfish, but I had my own goals, and I knew Mac would be fine, and it would pay off for him,” he added.

“He kicked my butt for three years (eighth through 10th-grade),” said Mac. “I couldn’t sniff Luke. All those years, I never thought it would help me out. But Luke pushed me to be a better version of myself. I am really lucky,” he added.

Mac earned two PIAA medals for the Blue Devils: a PIAA runner-up finish as a sophomore and third as a senior. He missed most of his junior when he blew out his UCL (ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow) at Powerade.

The losses and missing his junior year catalyzed Mac’s growth. “I didn’t regret anything in high school. I focused a lot on my mindset while recovering from injury. My high school psychology teacher, Tina Raspanti, shared books and strategies that continue to help me today,” said Mac.

Walking to the mat only a few feet behind Luke, it became real for Mac. The nerves set in a little. “When our names were called, I was like, ‘Oh shoot,’” said Mac.

Both were hesitant early—not their usual style. A second-period escape and takedown by Mac put him up 4-0. Luke countered with an escape in the second to end the period trailing, 4-1. Luke picked down to start the third and escaped to make the score 4-2. He forced a stalling call on Mac before the match finished 4-2.

After the match, Bryan and Jennifer could relax a little more. They could watch their sons compete to be All-Americans without the added theatrics of being the first brother vs. brother match in NCAA DI tournament history. For both of them, the match is somewhat of a blur.

Jennifer is the family’s rock. “The boys go to her for everything,” said Bryan. He joked about a recent phone call from one of the boys. He beamed a little that he was called first. Jennifer was getting ready and didn’t have her phone. Bryan learned that Jennifer was called first, and he became the second choice when she didn’t answer.

Luke, Princeton’s sixth four-time NCAA qualifier, won his second-round consolation match against Levi Hopkins from Campbell by technical fall before being eliminated in his next match by Nebraska’s Camden McDanel, 9-3.

While Luke dropped into the consolation bracket, Mac suffered a 2-0 loss to 2021 NCAA champion and No. 3 seed AJ Ferrari in the quarterfinals. In the subsequent Blood-Round match following the quarterfinal loss, Mac upended seven-seed Wyatt Voelker from Northern Iowa, 4-2, to secure All-American honors.

Luke was nothing more than happy for his brother. “Him getting on the podium made it worth it. It was the silver lining on the weekend,” he said. “Luke wrestled hard; he knew that. He told Mac, ‘Go win,’” said Bryan following their match.

Mac has two more years of eligibility. He wants to be a national champion. However, Mac stays away from goals and prefers to let things take care of itself. “I was so focused on getting big wins. I lost close matches with All-Americans. I decided to stop thinking about it, let go of results, and instead keep trying to improve,” Mac said.

Luke will graduate from Princeton this spring with a degree in sociology. Next year, he will add to the Stout family ties at Pitt and be a graduate assistant coach. He will help Mac and the upper weights. Luke will be closer to his parents, Kellan, and 10-year-old sister, Josie. “She is the toughest of all of them,” Bryan says about Josie (only half jokingly). Josie, a swimmer, competes with boys four and five years older than her.

Although it was the first brother-vs.-brother match in NCAA Division I tournament history, it highlighted a family with five NCAA All-American awards, 11 NCAA tournament appearances, four state titles, and a big wrestling legacy. The match was one of the largest stories in college wrestling this year. Two brothers. Best friends. And a close-knit family. All the necessary ingredients for something that will be talked about for years to come.