John Taggart enters his eighth year with Rutgers wrestling and serves as the program's Senior Athletic Trainer. During his tenure with the Scarlet Knights, Taggart has worked with two individual national champions, five individual Big Ten champions and 15 All-Americans. This past season, Taggart worked with All-Americans Dylan Shawver (133) and Yaraslau Slavikouski (HWT), while helping eight Scarlet Knights earn spots at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Kansas City.
Taggart also serves as the primary athletic trainer with the Rutgers men's golf program.
Taggart helped the Scarlet Knights navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Rutgers managed another historical season in 2021. RU closed the season with three All-Americans in the same year for the first time in program history, as Sebastian Rivera (fourth), John Poznanski (fourth) and Jackson Turley (eighth) all earned All-America honors at the 2021 NCAA Championships in St. Louis. Along with two-time NCAA qualifiers Michael VanBrill (149) and Billy Janzer (197), RU produced 13 victories at nationals en route to a 13th-place finish with 37.5 team points.
Taggart is a NASCM certified Strength and Condition Specialist, and also possesses certifications in M1 Graston Technique and Myofascial Release (MFR1).
Taggart arrived at Rutgers from Franklin & Marshall College, where he served as an assistant athletic trainer for all 25 of the Diplomats’ sport teams from 2014-16. Taggart was also the primary athletic trainer for Franklin & Marshall’s Division I wrestling program.
Prior to his appointment at Franklin & Marshall, Taggart worked as a graduate assistant athletic trainer with the football and wrestling teams at Old Dominion University from 2012-14. Taggart also spent the summer of 2011 as an athletic training intern with the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League.
The Claymont, Delaware, native received his bachelor’s degree in athletic training from the University of Delaware in 2012 and his master’s degree in education from Old Dominion in 2014. Taggart resides in Annandale, New Jersey, with his wife, Jessica.
