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By Don Stoner, Augsburg College Sports Information Coordinator
When Augsburg College President William Frame has college gatherings at Augsburg House, the presidential residence in south Minneapolis, his wife, Anne, picks a word for the occasion and highlights it in a large dictionary in the house's living room.
And it seemed appropriate, she said, that when the college and Lutheran Brotherhood honored Augsburg wrestling coach Jeff Swenson '79 for being named the Lutheran College National Coach of the Year (2000-01) during a ceremony at the house on May 7, the word she chose was "excellence."
Excellence means winning a record eight NCAA Division III wrestling national championships in a 12-year span, including the last three in a row, a feat unprecedented in the 29-year history of the Division III national championships. Excellence means winning 16 straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and 26 in the last 28 years, winning every MIAC Team Duals meet held (outscoring opponents 2,985-124 while posting a remarkable 62-0 record over the last 12 years), and compiling a 181-2 record against conference opponents since 1975.
Excellence means an incredible dual-meet record of 268-32, while producing 118 All-Americans and 27 individual national champions in a 20-year coaching career, in a program that stresses personal improvement -- Swenson's mantra is "one-percent improvement a day" -- to go with academic values and faith and family.
And excellence means producing 71 National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-Americans, graduating nearly every wrestler to come through the program, and helping them find careers in the field they majored in during their college years.
It's all part of his program's slogan, "The Pursuit of Excellence While Building Young Men."
That's the hallmark of Swenson, who has coached wrestling at Augsburg since 1980 (1980-84, 1986-present). Augsburg has finished in the top 20 nationally every year of Swenson's tenure (and every year since 1971), and has finished in the top four nationally the last 14 seasons in a row, including top-two national finishes in 13 of the last 14 years.
"What you have accomplished is radically out of step with this college's well-known standard of 'militant modesty'," President Frame joked to Swenson during the May 7 ceremony, attended by Augsburg alumni, Lutheran Brotherhood (soon to be Thrivent) officials, and senior wrestlers. In fact, the crowd who arrived to honor Swenson was overflowing throughout the presidential residence.
"This is the most humbling moment of my life," Swenson said. "I've never thought of Augsburg wrestling as anything but a team and a family. We've had great support from everyone at Augsburg, from the administration to the students and everyone here. It shows in what we've been able to accomplish."
The Lutheran Brotherhood award, given for only the second time at the end of the 2000-01 school year, honored Swenson among coaches at the 46 Lutheran colleges and universities across the country.
"Lutheran Brotherhood had little trouble in noticing Jeff's great achievement and his importance to our institution," said Gary Tangewald '80, a Lutheran Brotherhood financial planner.
"While there are a lot of successful coaches at Lutheran colleges, there are few that can match Jeff's contributions and the standard of excellence, both athletically and academically," said Pam Moxness '79, a Lutheran Brotherhood financial planner.
As proud as Swenson has been of the accomplishments of his team on the wrestling mat during his career, he is equally proud of the team's accomplishments in the classroom. Over the past five years, since the NWCA has awarded academic national team championships, Augsburg has never finished lower than fourth among the 103 Division III wrestling programs, winning the academic national championship in 1998-99. This season's Auggies finished third in the academic national race, with a team grade-point-average of 3.383 on a 4.0 scale.
In fact, Augsburg is the only college in Division III wrestling that has finished in the top 10 both on the mat and in the classroom each year of the five-year history of the NWCA academic team awards.
"Hearing all the numbers about your program, all I can say is wow," said Jim Haglund, a member of Augsburg's Board of Regents and a competitor against Swenson in his other passion, summer softball. "I think I could have three or four lifetimes and not accomplish what you've been able to accomplish."
His wrestlers credit Swenson for his attention to detail, his focus on every individual and his approach to building young people with strong character.
"From the first day here, I felt Swenson took me under his wing and treated me like a son," said Nick Slack (Sr., Belle Plaine, Minn.), a three-time All-American and 2000 national champion. "In fact, he treats all his wrestlers like sons. He looks for the good in his wrestlers and challenges them to reach their full potential in the classroom and on the wrestling mat.
"Jeff Swenson is a once-in-a-lifetime, special person. He is our coach, mentor, psychiatrist and drill sergeant. He examines all our individual situations and needs, and then gives us his best. He truly cares that we all succeed in life. Because I had the opportunity to wrestle for Jeff Swenson, I feel I will not only be a success in life, but a much better person. We all have been truly blessed that Jeff Swenson has touched our lives."
As proud as Swenson was of the awards and honors given to him, he was just as quick to share the credit with those close to him, including his assistant coaches, two of whom have been with Swenson for more than 13 years.
"The success we have has been made out of loyalty, made out of the people staying in the program and staying loyal to the program," Swenson said. "I can remember 15 years ago, when we were scrambling and hustling to catch the teams that we have now surpassed. Now they're scrambling and hustling to catch us."
This year's Augsburg wrestling squad dominated the regular season, going 16-0 in dual meets, but struggled through injuries and setbacks in the national tournament, a meet the Auggies were favored to win by a large margin. The Auggies' winning margin ended up being just six points, a feat that showed the strength of the program even while facing adversity.
The Auggies will lose 11 seniors to graduation -- the most successful senior class in the history of Augsburg wrestling (three national championships, one national runner-up) -- but Swenson told the May 7 gathering that he has confidence in continuing the tradition of excellence.
"We're going to be tough by February. This group can do that," Swenson said. "I'm not promising anything early on, but we will be tough when it counts."