Illinois wrestling head coach Mike Poeta announces the addition of Eric Schultz to his staff as assistant coach on Monday (July 14).

Schultz spent the last year (2024-25) at Nebraska Wesleyan serving as an assistant coach working with their head wrestling coach Colton McCrystal to develop wrestlers' technical skills, creating a culture of discipline and teamwork, and providing academic mentorship to ensure success in all aspects of their university experience.

The Tinley Park, Ill. native recently placed fourth at the 2024 Olympic Trials after winning the 2023 Henri Deglane Grand Prix and the 2022 Bill Farrell International tournament.

During his time at Nebraska Schultz became an All-American at the 2022 NCAA Championships taking seventh at 197 pounds. One month prior he finished second at the Big Ten Championships falling in a narrow decision to Penn State’s Max Dean, 4-2, to earn Second-Team All-Big Ten honors. In 2020, he earned NWCA First-Team All-America honors when the NCAA Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He's a five-time NCAA Championships qualifier (2018-22), three-time Second-Team All-Big Ten member (2020, 2021, 2022), a four-time Academic All-Big Ten recipient (2018-21) and two-time NWCA Scholar All-American (2020, 2022).