2025 LEGEND OF AUGSBURG ATHLETICS AWARD
Jeff Swenson ‘79 (Wrestling/Football/Coach/Administrator) -- Jeff Swenson, who has spent nearly his entire adult life as a member of the Augsburg University community, is stepping down from his current position as Athletic Director at the end of May 2025 and will assume a special role in Augsburg's Office of the President.
A 1979 Augsburg alumnus, Swenson has directed the Augsburg Athletic Department since 2001, leading the Augsburg athletic program through a period of unprecedented growth, improvement and athletic success, while prioritizing equity, inclusion and academic excellence.
Since 2001-02, Augsburg teams have won 33 MIAC team championships, received 88 berths in MIAC postseason playoffs with 10 playoff titles, and appeared in NCAA Division III national tournaments 19 times. With Augsburg's nine men's wrestling national championships since 2001 leading the way, Augsburg individual sport student-athletes earned 213 conference and regional individual titles, 322 berths in national tournaments and 38 individual national championships. Augsburg student-athletes in all sports earned 276 All-American and 216 All-Region honors since 2001. Under Swenson's leadership of the athletic department, Augsburg has experienced its most dramatic growth and success in school history, and has undertaken significant improvements in its sport offerings, staffing and facilities.
Swenson served as Augsburg's men's wrestling head coach for 25 seasons (1980-84, 1986-2007), building the squad into a national small-college wrestling powerhouse. Under Swenson's leadership, Augsburg won a record-10 NCAA Division III national championships and 20 MIAC team championships. He had a career dual-meet record of 321-44 (.879 winning percentage), earned National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III National Coach of the Year honors six times and MIAC Coach of the Year honors 13 times.
Swenson has been a member of the Augsburg community for nearly 50 years -- as a student, athlete, coach and administrator. Swenson began his coaching career in his first year out of college, as an assistant coach on John Grygelko's Auggie staff. Grygelko retired in 1980, and Swenson was named head coach. As a wrestler at Augsburg from 1975-79, Swenson produced a 102-17 competitive record, earning NAIA All-American honors three times (1977-78-79) and winning the national title at 167 pounds in 1979. He earned the school's senior Honor Athlete award in 1979 and was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. He received the MIAC’s Distinguished Service Award in May 2025.
Swenson also served as an assistant coach on the Augsburg football staff for 10 years, including being a part of the Auggie 1997 MIAC championship and NCAA national tournament team, and also served as director of Augsburg's alumni office for a short time in the 1980s. Swenson earned Augsburg degrees in health and physical education in 1979, and earned a master's degree in health from the University of Minnesota in 1982. He also spent two years away from Augsburg (1984-86) as wrestling coach at Rosemount (Minn.) High School.
Jeff Swenson, class of 1979 ... Jeff Swenson is synonymous with the term “Auggie Legend.” Jeff has spent nearly his entire adult life as a member of the Augsburg University community, as a student-athlete, coach and administrator. As an Auggie wrestler, Jeff was a three-time NAIA All-American and a national titlist in 1979, finishing with a 102-17 competitive record. He then moved on to the coaching ranks at Augsburg, spending a year as an assistant coach under John Grygelko, then serving as head coach for 25 seasons, winning 20 MIAC team championships and 10 NCAA Division III national championships, coaching the Auggies to a career dual-meet record of 321-44. He earned National Coach of the Year honors six times and MIAC Coach of the Year honors 13 times. He also served as an assistant coach for the Auggie football team for 10 years, and was Augsburg’s alumni director for a short time in the 1980s. He served as Augsburg’s Athletic Director from 2001 to 2025, leading the Auggies through a period of growth, improvement and success. Auggie teams won 33 MIAC titles, 10 conference playoff titles and appeared in NCAA playoffs 19 times, with nine national championships. Auggie student-athletes earned 213 conference and regional titles, 322 berths in national tournaments, 38 individual national titles, 276 All-American and 216 All-Region honors since 2001. Jeff and his wife Melissa, have four children - Brady, Brett, Ethan and Amy - and live in Mounds View, Minnesota.
The 1979 Augsburg Honor Athlete and one of the best wrestlers to ever come through the Augsburg program. A three-time MIAC individual champion, three-time All-American, two-time team Most Valuable Player and team captain his senior season, Swenson earned the NAIA national title at 167 pounds in 1979 after finishing fourth the prior two years. He finished his career with a 102-17 record. He was also a four-year letter winner linebacker for the Auggie football team.
After graduating from Augsburg with a degree in health and physical education, he earned his master’s degree in health from the University of Minnesota in 1982. He served one year as an assistant coach, and then succeeded John Grygelko as head coach for the Auggie wrestling team in 1980-81.
Swenson is considered one of the best wrestling coaches in the nation, having compiled a 321-44 dual-meet record during his tenure. Under Swenson's leadership, Augsburg won 10 NCAA Division III wrestling national titles in a 17-year span, a championship total doubling that of any other Division III school. Augsburg is one of only three NCAA schools to have won 10 or more wrestling national titles. Augsburg also finished second in Division III national competition seven times under Swenson, and finished among the top four teams in national competition 19 seasons in a row -- the only NCAA school in any division that can make that claim.
During his tenure as Augsburg's head coach, Swenson coached 158 All-Americans and 39 individual national champions. Since beginning its competition in the NCAA Division III national tournament in 1983 (Augsburg competed in the NAIA prior to 1983) under Swenson, Augsburg won 38 Division III individual national titles in Swenson's tenure, the most of any Division III school.
Augsburg has also been a success in the classroom. Under Swenson's leadership, Augsburg produced 98 NWCA Scholar All-Americans, the most of any college in any division in the nation. Augsburg has also had eight ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans in wrestling, as awarded by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), during Swenson's tenure.
Swenson, whose teams also won 20 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team titles, was named MIAC Coach of the Year 13 times and NWCA National Coach of the Year six times (1983, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2007).
Swenson was inducted into the NCAA Division III Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005, the Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Association/David Bartelma Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2000-01, Swenson was named Lutheran College National Coach of the Year (all sports) from Lutheran Brotherhood, and in 2002, he earned National College Coach of the Year honors (all divisions) from Wrestling USA Magazine.
Swenson also served as an assistant coach on the Augsburg football staff for 10 years. He also spent two years away from Augsburg (1984-86) as wrestling coach at Rosemount (Minn.) High School. He began his duties overseeing the athletic department in 2001, when he was named Assistant Dean for Athletics and Recreation. In 2007, as part of a restructuring of the athletic department, Swenson's title was changed to Athletic Director. He has also been serving as a wrestling assistant coach since 2008.
Swenson and his wife,
Melissa, live in Minneapolis, Minn., and have three sons, Brady and twin boys Brett and Ethan, and a daughter, Amy.
