Ned Shuck Selected to Lead Bellarmine Wrestling Program

Graphic and official release courtesy of Bellarmine Athletics.  

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bellarmine University Director of Athletics Scott Wiegandt announced Wednesday that Ned Shuck has been hired as the head coach of the Bellarmine University wrestling team.

Shuck becomes the second head coach in the short history of the program, which launched in 2016. A member of the Southern Conference, Bellarmine is coming off its first season in Division I in 2020-21 after making the rise from DII.

Shuck spent the previous three seasons at Army West Point, the latter two of which he was the associate head wrestling coach after being promoted in 2019-20. In all three years of his tenure, the Black Knights had seven wrestlers qualify for the NCAA Championship.

"I'm excited to welcome Coach Shuck to the Bellarmine Family," Wiegandt said. "Ned was instrumental in the historic success that Army West Point achieved over the last three years. And that's nothing new for him — success on the mat and in the classroom has followed him at every coaching stop across multiple collegiate levels. I have no doubt that trend will continue at Bellarmine as our still-young wrestling program continues to evolve and develop, now at the Division-I level."

In 2020-21, Shuck helped guide Army West Point to a program-record third straight season with seven qualifiers for the NCAA Championship. In addition, the Black Knights captured two individual Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association titles, had five total EIWA finalists and placed third as a team at the tournament while amassing the second-most team points in program history. Shuck helped land a 2021 recruiting class that was ranked No. 24 by Intermat and No. 26 by MatScouts with nine recruits rated among the top 300.

Army West Point also flourished in the classroom during Shuck's tenure. Most recently, the Black Knights earned four EIWA Academic Achievement Awards and had two wrestlers accept two-year fellowships with Lincoln Laboratories at MIT and Harvard in his final year with the program.

"God has given me an immeasurable amount of grace again in my career by providing me with this outstanding opportunity to continue my passion and my calling as the next head wrestling coach at Bellarmine University," Shuck said. "It has been a pleasure getting to know Scott Wiegandt, (Deputy Director of Athletics/SWA) Pam Stackhouse and the rest of the staff and personnel. I am certainly grateful for their trust in my vision and plan for the future. My family and I can't wait to meet all the guys in person and begin our work together!"

In his second season at Army West Point, Shuck was promoted to associate head coach. He helped lead the Black Knights to a 10-3 regular season and 4-1 mark in EIWA matchups, a record third-place team finish at the EIWA Championships and the second consecutive year of receiving seven NCAA bids.

In his coaching debut at Army, Shuck was a part of a Black Knights team that went 8-3 overall and 7-1 in EIWA competition. Army closed out the conference tournament finishing fourth at the EIWA Championships and produced seven NCAA Championship qualifiers.

Prior to his stint at Army West Point, Shuck spent four years at the helm of Wisconsin-Whitewater, guiding the Warhawks to a 47-17 record in duals and finishing in the top 25 each year at the NCAA III Championships. Additionally, UW-Whitewater collected two Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles (2015 and 2016), as well as the Upper Midwest Regional crown in 2014-15. The 2015-16 WIAC Coach of the Year trained 11 All-Americans, including two-time national champion and d3wrestle.com's 2018 National Wrestler of the Year Jordan Newman, as well as 17 WIAC individual champions and seven regional champions. Eleven Warhawks earned NWCA Scholar All-America honors, including five Chancellor's Scholar-Athletes.

Prior to UW-Whitewater, Shuck spent three years as the head coach at Division III Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio. During his tenure at Heidelberg, Shuck led the Student Princes to back-to-back Ohio Athletic Conference championships (2013 and 2014) and mentored 22 All-OAC selections, four academic All-Conference honorees, seven NWCA Academic All-Americans and six individual NCAA qualifiers, including one All-American. He was selected OAC Coach of the Year following the 2013-14 campaign.

During his career, Shuck has also served as an assistant coach at Augsburg (Minn.) from 2009-11, where he helped lead the Auggies to the 2010 NCAA III championship and a runner-up performance at the 2011 national championships. Shuck helped coach 13 All-Americans, four national finalists and one national champion during his time at Augsburg.

Shuck wrestled at the University of Iowa from 2000-05, earning a degree in elementary education. He was a four-time letter winner and three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection for the Hawkeyes.

Shuck and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons, Lukas and Micah.

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