Stopera joined the men's basketball coaching staff in the fall of 2019 after a successful career as a student-athlete at AU. He was a three-year starter at point guard for the Saxons, closing out his career with 705 points, 318 assists and 229 rebounds. His career culminated in AU's first Empire 8 Championship in 2018-19 and the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament in over 20 years.
Stopera was an Empire 8 All-Conference Honorable Mention in 2018-19 after leading the conference in assist to turnover ratio (3.3). He also finished second in the E8 with 5.7 assists per game during his senior campaign.
Stopera graduated from AU in the spring of 2019 with a degree in finance. He is a native of Scotia, NY where he played basketball at Scotia-Glenville High School
