A.J. Shopp joined the Edinboro wrestling staff in May of 2024 as the head assistant coach.
Schopp has spent six seasons on the coaching staff at Purdue mentoring numerous standouts and national qualifiers including 2023 NCAA Runner-Up Matt Ramos, two-time Big Ten Championship 125-pound runner-up Devin Schroder, 2018 NCAA Round of 12 qualifier Luke Welch, two-time national qualifier Ben Thornton and 2021 NCAA qualifier Jacob Rundell.
Prior to his time with the Boilermakers, Schopp spent two seasons as an assistant at South Dakota State. He helped South Dakota State to their first-ever Big 12 Conference Championship and the programs first Division I All-Americans in Seth Gross and Alex Kocer.
In his two seasons with the Jackrabbits, South Dakota State posted a 28-11 dual record, qualified 10 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, had 11 Academic All-Big 12 selections and had eight NWCA All-Academic honorees.
Schopp also mentored Gross in freestyle, coaching him to a UWW National Championship and a spot on the U.S. Junior World Freestyle Team in 2016.
At Edinboro, Schopp was consistently among the country's elite wrestlers at 133 pounds. He was known for dominance on top and scoring bonus points.
Schopp was a four-time NCAA qualifier, earning three All-American honors, and was a three-time Easter Wrestling League Champion.
In 2013 and 2014, Schopp placed fourth at the NCAA Championships. In 2015, he posted hist best finish winning seven straight matches after being upended in the first round to place-third. He earned the Gorriaran Award for the most falls in the least amount of time with four pins in 11:53 during wrestlebacks. The Fighting Scots third-place team finish is still the best in program history at the Division I Championships.
You can find Schopp's name all over the Fighting Scot record book as he holds the second-best win percentage in school history at .887 and his 133 career wins ranks sixth. His 67 falls are still the most in program history and each of his four seasons are inside the Top-20 for falls in a season.
