David Schutter

Head Wrestling Coach

David Schutter, who enters his 17th season as the Bulldogs' head coach, has guided seven of Truman’s 10 all-Americans, including five two-time all-Americans. Under his direction, team members have made 29 individual appearances at the NCAA Division II meet.

In 2004, Schutter guided Merrick Meyer to the 141-pound NCAA Division II national championship. It was the first national champion in the program since 1968.

He led the Bulldogs to fifth-place finishes at the Midwest regional championships four times, some of the best regional finishes in school history. Schutter was the Mid-South Wrestling Association coach of the year for the 1996-97 season, and was named the Midwest regional coach of the year in 1992-93.

He has compiled over 70 wins in the last 16 seasons at Truman, the most by any Bulldog coach, and guided the ‘Dogs to their only undefeated season at 11-0-1 in 1992-93.

Schutter’s teams have also enjoyed success in the classroom as all of his squads have placed among the top 10 on the National Wrestling Coaches Association list of academic teams for NCAA Division II. He has also seen his student-athletes earn 25 places on the NWCA all-academic team.

He began his collegiate wrestling career at Indiana University under Olympic champion Doug Blubaugh, compiling a record of 17-9 at 118 pounds. Schutter transferred to Indiana State the following year and moved up to 126 pounds for the next three years. He won six tournament titles and was the runner-up once. Schutter finished third in the NCAA Division I Midwest Regionals. He received a political science degree from Indiana State in 1986.

From 1987-90, he served in the U.S. Army, spending most of his military career as a member of the all-Army wrestling team. Schutter competed in the Inter-Service Championships, U.S. Nationals and the Olympic Trials, and won numerous open tournaments while stationed in Wruzberg, Germany. He also won the U.S. Army European Freestyle and Greco-roman Championship at 136.5. He had a cumulative record of 277-33-5 and was a finalist for the 1988 Olympic Trials.

In 1990, while training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Schutter suffered a career-ending neck injury at the height of a promising Greco-Roman wrestling career. Schutter then coached the Wruzberg team that won the VII Corps freestyle and Greco-Roman championships in Europe.

Schutter believes in a theory of constantly striving to improve and in coaching a scholar-athlete, an athlete whose most important goal is to graduate with honors.

He has a son, Dakota and a daughter Kami.