Jay Shoop, a 47-year veteran of the sports medicine profession, is in his 29th overall year at Georgia Tech and the 16th year of his second stint with the Yellow Jackets, which began in 2002. As director of sports medicine, Shoop oversees all areas of the sports medicine program for Tech’s 17 varsity sports.
Shoop, who originally served as Georgia Tech’s director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer from 1987-99, returned to The Flats in 2002 after a year as the head athletic trainer for the National Football League’s Detroit Lions.
In addition to his 28 years at Tech and one year with the Lions, Shoop’s illustrious career also includes stints as head athletic trainer at Furman (1970-76), assistant athletic trainer for the Atlanta Falcons (1976-82), head athletic trainer for the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League (1983-84) and head athletic trainer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1985-86).
Shoop also served as the chief athletic trainer for the Olympic Village at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta and as the head athletic trainer for the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.
A native of Wise, Va., Shoop earned a bachelor’s degree from East Tennessee State in 1970 and a master’s degree from Furman in 1976.
He was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2012 and is also a member of the ETSU Athletics Hall of Fame and the Georgia Athletic Trainers’ Hall of Fame.
An avid collector of historical sports memorabilia, Shoop authored the official history of the Southeastern Athletic Trainers Association in 1988.
Shoop is married to the former Anne Brockman. The couple has two children – a daughter, Farrah, a Georgia Tech graduate (husband: Corey Gamel), and a son, Lynn (wife: Meredith). The Shoops have five grandchildren – Logan, Summer, Owen, Bree and Catherine Rose.
