John Trudgeon was a three-year starter in wrestling for the College of William & Mary and qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships as a senior. 

After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in physical education, he was the head wrestling coach at Lafayette High School in Williamsburg, Virginia for eight seasons. Trudgeon led his teams to district titles in 1982 and 1983 and a third-place finish at the Virginia AAA tournament in 1982. He coached six AAA state champions and was named Peninsula District Coach of the Year in 1982. 

He became the head wrestling coach at Virginia Military Institute in 1985, and has progressively raised the benchmarks of success for the program. During his tenure, Southern Conference championships, NCAA qualifiers and All-Americans have become the standard for the Keydets. 

VMI received votes in the Amateur Wrestling News Top 25 Coaches poll following the 1995-96 season, and posted a 12-1 dual record against Southern Conference opponents from 1994-97. The Keydets were co-champions of the Southern Conference in 1995, 1997 and 1999, and finished just one match out of first place in the standings in three of the last seven seasons. 

VMI has also had six finishers in the Top 12 at the NCAA tournament in recent years, including a fourth-place finish by 142-pounder Charlie Branch in 1994, a sixth-place finish by heavyweight Leslie Apedoe in 1999 and a 12th-place finish by 157-pounder Adam Britt in 2002. 

In 23 season as head coach, Trudgeon has a career dual record of 144-160-4 while being named SoCon Coach of the Year four times and Virginia Coach of the Year three times. 

He and his wife, Cathy, who is the staff education coordinator at Stonewall Jackson Hospital, have a son, Joshua, who is 15 years old.