Former Tyrone Area wrestling standout A.J. Schopp didn’t always know he wanted to get into coaching.
But others, like Penn State’s Zain Retherford, could recognize the Purdue assistant’s potential years ago.
Retherford remembers training at the same time as Schopp at Ken Chertow’s gym when he was younger and watching Schopp hit moves from the top position he’d never done before.
“When I was about 100 pounds, he rolled around with me and worked with me in those positions I wasn’t so good at,” Retherford said.
Now, Schopp is in his third year of coaching at the Division I level and will return to the area when the Boilermakers take on the Nittany Lions at 7 p.