Harper University

Dan Loprieno has been the head wrestling coach at Harper College since 1998 and in his 17 seasons, the team has won three national championships (2001, 2006 and 2010).  Along with his three titles, Loprieno’s teams have finished second in the nation three times, third in the nation twice and finished fourth in the nation once.  In addition, Loprieno has guided the Hawks to ten Regional titles and runners-up in the region twice.
 
Under Loprieno, the Hawks have been the top non-scholarship school at the national meet for the last three seasons, including this season’s eight place overall finish. The squad finished sixth in 2011.  Loprieno has also coached four national champions: Josh Kratovil at 141, Mike Rio at 149, PJ Starnes at 157 and Curtis Blaydes this season in the heavyweight division.
 
After the 2011-12 edition won the Midwest District Meet, Loprieno was named Coach of the Year.  His team included ten national qualifiers for the national meet, an individual national champion (Blaydes), three All-Americans (Blaydes, Charles Argue and Chris Gonzalez) and 11 members of the Academic All-Conference team.
 
Loprieno was inducted in the NJCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2008. He was the NJCAA Wrestling Man of the Year in 2009. In 2010 Coach Lopreino was inducted into the NJCAA Region IV Hall of Fame.
 
Loprieno wrestled for Harper from 1983-85, and he was a national qualifier for Hall of Fame coach Norm Lovelace in 1985.  After Harper, he continued his education and wrestling career at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, completing his Bachelor’s degree in Math Education and receiving a Masters of Science Degree in Mathematics.
 
Loprieno then began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Oshkosh. Next, he was hired as an assistant coach at Harper in 1989 and spent ten seasons as on the staff before being promoted to head coach.
 
Loprieno is currently a professor of Mathematics at Harper College, where he started teaching in the fall of 1991. He lives in Algonquin with his wife, Heidi, and their three children: Haley, Delaney and Luke.