Ryan Schopf is in his 12th year as the head women’s volleyball coach at Lakeland in 2025-26. He also serves as the school’s assistant athletic director for internal relations.
The Muskies under Schopf have won 158 matches in his first 11 years and have regularly finished in the top half of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. Lakeland holds an 81-47 record in NACC play in his tenure and has qualified for the conference tournament 10 of the last 11 seasons.
The Muskies finished 10-19 last year, a mark that included an 8-5 record in the NACC. Lakeland faced a typical strong non-conference schedule but warmed up in conference play, including a win over perennial nemesis Concordia Wisconsin. The Muskies snapped an 13-match losing streak to the Falcons with a five-set win at home to top CUW for the first time since 2013.
Lakeland had posted winning records five of the previous six years before last year’s mark. The Muskies posted consecutive winning records in 2022 and 2023, heating up down the stretch both years before seeing the season end in the first round of the NACC Tournament. Lakeland also posted three consecutive winning seasons from 2018-21, including going 7-5 in a 2020-21 season affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Muskies improved through the season including posting a win over nationally ranked Greenville (Ill.) in the AVCA Invitational in Indianapolis before seeing its season end early due to Covid protocols.
The 2019 season saw the Muskies capture their first NACC regular season title in ten years, tying Aurora and Concordia Wisconsin for the crown. Lakeland finished 19-15 overall and 10-2 in the NACC, falling in the NACC Tournament semifinals. Schopf also recorded his 100th career win as Muskies coach during the season.
The conference title came a year after the Muskies posted their best season in nearly a decade in 2018, finishing with a 22-11 record and tying for third in the NACC with a 9-3 mark. Lakeland opened with four straight wins in its home tournament over Labor Day weekend, reached the semifinals of the NACC Tournament, and its 22 wins were the most for the program since 2009.
Schopf also served as Lakeland’s head men’s volleyball coach from 2016-19, leading the team to 52 wins before stepping down at the end of the 2019 season to concentrate on coaching the women’s program.
Schopf is a native of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., and St. Norbert College graduate. He came to Lakeland in 2014 after spending the previous two years as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Jacksonville State University in Alabama. He followed former University of Wisconsin-Green Bay assistant coach Joseph Goodson to Jacksonville State in 2011 when Goodson was named head coach. Schopf was the offensive coordinator for the Gamecocks and worked with the team’s setters. His other duties included practice planning, travel preparations, scouting and recruiting.
Prior to Jacksonville State, Schopf was the head girls volleyball coach at Luxemburg-Casco High School from 2008-11. He led the Spartans to a 128-29 record over four years, including a Bay Conference Championship, two Bay Conference Tournament titles and three WIAA regional titles.
While at Jacksonville State, Schopf also received his master’s in sports management. He received his bachelor’s degree in elementary education in May 2004 from St. Norbert College, where he also was a member of the men’s golf team.
Schopf comes from a family that has been involved in volleyball in the state for years. His mother Roxanne Schopf has coached volleyball for more than 30 years at Sevastopol High School.
Schopf is married to the former Jena Bushman, who is also a native of Sturgeon Bay, and the couple has two sons, Liam and Callen.
