About |

Hall of Famer Shannyn J. Gillespie, aka Coach Shannyn, was inducted into these HOFs for his outstanding career as a coach & athlete: Illinois Wrestling Coaches & Officials Association, Eastern Wrestling League, Lock Haven University, & Evanston Township High School.

Coach Shannyn has coached individuals to: 29 National Championship Gold medals, 30+ World or Pan American medals, 5 USA Wrestling Outstanding Wrestler Awards, 5 NJCAA All-Americans, 1 IHSA Silver medal, & 1 Olympic Bronze medal.

As an athlete, Coach Shannyn was a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete, an NCAA Division I All-American (3rd pl), Jr. National Freestyle Runner-up, 2X Freestyle Champion, Greco-Roman State Champion, & Illinois H.S. State Champion (IHSA).

He enters his fourth season as Head Coach for Lakeland University Women’s Wrestling (WI), and past coach at: the U.S. Olympic Education Center (MI) from 2004-2012, Lincoln College (IL), the Overtime School of Wrestling (IL), & Homewood-Flossmoor High School (IL).

Coach Shannyn also coached for the USA Wrestling National Team Staff & the Mongolian Wrestling Federation (Strength & Conditioning Coach).

At the start of his college and international coaching career, Coach Shannyn began writing women’s freestyle wrestling articles for themat.com and more recently coachshannyn.com plus American Women’s Wrestling.

He has an extensive background in High Performance Training & coaching women’s freestyle teams at: 34 National Championships, 14 international tournaments & camps, 4 World Championships, & 2 Pan American Championships.

Coach Shannyn and his wife Emily live in Wisconsin and have two college aged daughters Jazmyn & Kayla.