BURNABY, B.C. – A man who has represented SFU Wrestling with honour and pride for more than three decades as an athlete and leader is saying goodbye, as Justin Abdou is retiring as the head coach of the Red Leafs Women's Team.
 
He began his time on Burnaby Mountain as an outstanding wrestler and will leave a lasting legacy as a coach who built extraordinary teams and developed international stars, including World Champions, Olympians and global medalists.

"SFU has been my home for 37-plus years," said Abdou. "I have met so many great people and made lifelong friends. My time coaching at SFU has been extremely rewarding and educational. I am incredibly proud of the student-athletes who allowed me to be part of their journey. In many ways, I learned a lot more from them than they ever learned from me.

"I'm very grateful Mike Jones saw something in me that I did not see in myself at the time. That opportunity changed my life. I will miss the daily interaction with young, like-minded champions, but am excited to become SFU Wrestling's No. 1 fan. I was surrounded by remarkable people at SFU for my entire career and am incredibly thankful to them all."
 
From 2001 to 2025, Abdou led the SFU men's program, before adding to his portfolio by becoming the women's team head coach. In both instances, he succeeded the legendary Mike Jones, who was also his coach at SFU.
 

During Abdou's tenure, the men's team participated in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) (2001-11), Canadian Interuniversity Sport (now U SPORTS) (2002-10) and the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) (2011-12) before completing a move into the NCAA (a process that began in 2010 and completed in 2012).
 
When Abdou took over as head coach, the SFU women's team competed for Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) (2017-19), Women's Collegiate Wrestling Coalition (WCWC) (2020) and National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships (NCWWC) (2021-25) national banners before the Red Leafs took part in the inaugural NCAA Women's Wrestling Championships this past season.
 
"For more than three decades, Justin has been the heartbeat of SFU Wrestling – first as one of the most decorated athletes ever to compete on Burnaby Mountain, and then as a coach developing National Champions, World Champions and Olympians," said Breanne Watson, SFU Director, Athletics & Business Operations.
 
"Under his leadership, our student-athletes didn't just win national titles in Canada and the United States — they helped redefined what's possible at a Canadian university competing in American intercollegiate athletics. Justin brought the same relentless standard to our women's program and built it into a force that competed at the inaugural NCAA Women's Wrestling Championships. On behalf of Simon Fraser University, we grateful for everything Justin has given this institution, and we wish him nothing but the best in this next chapter."

Abdou's men's teams had great success competing for Canadian and American titles at the same time.
 
He coached SFU to two CIS men's national championships in 2009 and 2010.
 
In 2009, Isaac Wing (65 kilograms) and Arjan Bhullar (130 kg) were crowned as the best university wrestlers in Canada at the CIS Championships in Calgary, as SFU took the national banner by 12 points over Brock (Ont.) and ended the Badgers' 10-year title streak. The CIS honoured Abdou with its Men's Coach of the Year Award.
 
The next week, SFU sent a small group to the NAIA Men's Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City and Bhullar matched his feats from the CIS meet by capturing the heavyweight division.
 
SFU was even more dominant at the 2010 CIS national championships in Calgary. Raj Virdi (61 kg), Mike Cappus (68 kg) and Ali Al-Rekabi (130 kg) won individual national titles to power the squad to a 17-point victory over New Brunswick.
 
Incredibly, SFU won best Canadian university team honours without Abdou and three of its top wrestlers, Bhullar, Clete Hanson and Alex Stemer, as they were at the NAIA Championships in Oklahoma City at the same time. Bhullar repeated as NAIA heavyweight champion and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the event.
 
It was a unique and historic feat in university wrestling as SFU athletes won varsity titles in two different countries on the same weekend.
 
SFU also placed second on the men's side at the CIS Championships on three occasions (2004, 2007 and 2008). The team tied for first with 53 points in 2008 but was awarded second based on a tiebreaker.
 
At the conference level, SFU was second in the Canada West in its first year as a member, and then won the next seven titles with Abdou as coach before departing for the NCAA. He merited Canada West Men's Coach of the Year four times (2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010).
 
In total, SFU men's wrestlers won 18 individual national championships (15 CIS and three NAIA) and earned five NCAA Division II All-America selections with Abdou as head coach.
 

After the retirement of Jones from coaching in 2017, Abdou took over the history-making women's program, becoming the head coach of both SFU wrestling teams.
 
With three national individual champions (Abby Lloyd (116 pounds), Dominique Parrish (123 lbs.) and Mallory Velte (143 lbs.)), SFU finished a close second at the 2018 WCWA Championships in Oklahoma City, just five points off top spot.
 
The 2019 WCWA national meet in Marietta, Ga., was even closer, as SFU ended up in second by 4.5 points in the team standings, with Parrish repeating as the 123-pound titlist.
 
At the inaugural WCWC National Championship (2020) in Adrian, Mich., SFU was second after another trio won individual titles: Karla Godinez Gonzalez (116 lbs.), Alex Hedrick (123 lbs.) and Ana Godinez Gonzalez (143 lbs.).
 
SFU recorded a pair of top-6 finishes at the two national championships after the COVID-19 pandemic (2022 and 2023) and continued to make history.
 
In 2023, the Red Leafs joined four other schools as inaugural women's wrestling members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).
 
In the three years since the creation of RMAC Women's Wrestling, SFU has won every regular season title, going 12-0 in conference dual matches. Rightly, Abdou was named RMAC Women's Wrestling Coach of the Year all three seasons. In the spring of 2026, the Red Leafs won the first-ever RMAC Women's Wrestling Championships tournament. 
 
SFU completed the 2025-26 season by making more history and competing at the first-ever NCAA Women's Wrestling Championships in Coralville, Iowa.
 

Over the course of Abdou's time as women's head coach, Red Leafs women's wrestlers won 10 individual national championship titles.
 
Internationally, athletes coached by Abdou at SFU have won four World Wrestling Championships medals. Velte won bronze at 62 kg in 2018. Then in 2022, Parrish won the 50-kg world title, while Velte (65 kg) and Karla Godinez Gonzalez (55 kg) took home bronze. Bhullar (2012), Ana Godinez Gonzalez (2024), and Parrish (2024) all made the Olympics after completing their varsity careers.
 
Born in Thunder Bay, Ont., and raised in Moose Jaw, Sask., Abdou arrived in Burnaby in 1989 after winning the Cadet World Championship two years prior. It was the beginning of a spectacular university career that saw him win the NAIA 177-pound individual title in each of his four seasons (1989-90 to 1992-93). He led SFU to the NAIA team title in 1993, his senior year and was the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the national meet. Abdou remains the SFU record holder with more than 200 career victories during his varsity career.
 
Abdou graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Business Administration.
 


On the global stage, Abdou wrestled in the 2000 Olympic Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, placing 13th in the 85-kg weight class. He thrilled BC fans in 1994 when he won the 82-kg gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria.
 
Abdou earned a silver medal (82 kg) at the 1990 Pan American Championships when he was still an SFU student, and a bronze in 1998 (85 kg) and 2000 (85 kg).
 
He won nine senior Canadian national championships, nine age-group Canadian championships, two Canada Games gold medals, 15 international titles and 26 international medals over the course of his career. Abdou also captured the 1990 USA Junior National and 1991 US University Freestyle championships.
 
From 1997 to 2001, while still competing as a wrestler, Abdou served as an assistant coach with SFU Wrestling. He retired in 2001 and turned to full-time coaching.
 
Abdou led the 2002, 2004 and 2007 World Cup Wrestling Teams, four University World Championship squads, the Canadian National Team at both the World Juniors and the World Championships, and assisted with the 2008 Canadian Olympic wrestling team. 

He is a member of five halls of fame: Burnaby Sports (inducted in 2005), Canadian Amateur Wrestling (2007), NAIA (2000), Saskatchewan Sports (2021) and SFU Sports (2016).

Abdou went Hollywood with an appearance in the 2009 movie Personal Effects, which starred Michelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Kutcher, and Academy Awards winner Kathy Bates. He played a referee and was the wrestling consultant for the film.