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MINNEAPOLIS (5/8/02) -- Augsburg College wrestling head coach Jeff Swenson was named National College Coach of the Year by Wrestling USA Magazine. The award will be presented in Wrestling USA's May 30 issue.
Swenson was also named Minnesota State Coach of the Year by the magazine. The College Coach of the Year award covers coaches for college and university wrestling program s in all three NCAA divisions, as well as the NAIA.
In March, Swenson's Augsburg wrestling team won its eighth NCAA Division III wrestling national championship in the last 12 years. It was Augsburg's third straight national championship in the sport. Both the three straight titles and eight overall titles are NCAA Division III records. Augsburg has had top-two national finishes in 13 of the last 14 years, top-four finishes the last 14 seasons in a row and top-20 national finishes every year since 1971.
Augsburg finished the 2001-02 season with a 16-0 dual-meet record, the seventh unbeaten season in Jeff's tenure and 12th in school history, and extended a dual-meet winning streak to 24 straight dual meets.
Augsburg won its 16th straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship (19th MIAC title in Swenson's tenure; Augsburg has won 26 of the last 28 MIAC titles and 29 titles since 1968) and 12th straight MIAC Team Duals title this season. Against MIAC opponents, Augsburg is 181-2 since the 1975-76 season. In winning each of the 12 MIAC Team Duals tournaments, Augsburg has outscored its conference opponents by a 2,985-124 margin in going 62-0. Augsburg has a 16-season, 82-match dual-meet winning streak against MIAC opponents.
Against opponents from Divisions II and III, Augsburg is 165-7 since the 1989-90 season, and has lost just two matches to non-Division I opponents since the 1995-96 season. Against NCAA Division III opponents, Augsburg is 196-13 since the 1979-80 season. Augsburg has a current 71-match winning streak against Division III opponents. Since the 1989-90 season, Augsburg is 120-3 against Division III opponents.
In his Auggie career, Swenson has coached 118 All-Americans, including 27 individual national champions. His collegiate coaching record of 268-32 is among the best of all active coaches.
Academically, Augsburg has had 71 Scholar All-Americans (awarded by the National Wrestling Coaches Association) and in 1998-99, earned the Division III academic national championship with a team grade-point average of 3.48. The 1997-98 Auggies finished second in the nation with a team GPA of 3.373, as did the 1999-2000 Auggies, with a team GPA of 3.40. The 2000-01 Auggies finished fourth, and the 2001-02 Auggies finished third academically with a team GPA of 3.383.
In the five years the NWCA has sponsored an academic team national championship, Augsburg is the only school to finish in the top 10 both academically and on the mat.
In 2001, Swenson was named interim assistant dean for athletics and recreation at Augsburg. In this role, he supervises the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic departments, the athletic facilities department, and the college's intramural athletic program.