Brendan Ruter (Hamline '13) returned to Augsburg to join the men's and women's cross country/track and field coaching staffs in 2023. He previously served as a volunteer assistant coach in the 2014-15 season. A Minnesota native and former student-athlete for Hamline University, Ruter will be working with middle distance and distance runners on the track and field teams, in addition to working extensively with the cross country teams.
Before returning to the Twin Cities in 2021, Ruter had worked as an assistant coach for track and field/cross country at Rhodes College (Tenn.), and as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Hamline, in 2015. He worked with their cross country teams in the fall and the middle distance and distance runners during the track seasons.Â
From 2016 to 2018, Ruter served as a co-head track and cross country coach at the Math and Science Academy in Woodbury, Minn. During his tenure, the girls' cross country team won two consecutive TCAC conference titles. Between the boys' and girls' teams, there were 16 individual athletes and one relay team that made Class A state meet appearances. Ten of those earned All-State distinctions, including four individual state titles and one relay state title. Athletes he coached earned the 2017 Gatorade Minnesota Girls' Cross Country Runner of the Year Award, a 2017 NXR Girls Heartland Region Winner/NXR national participant, and a 2017 Girls' Foot Locker Region Qualifier/Foot Locker National All-American.
A 2013 Hamline graduate, Ruter was a part of some of the strongest cross country teams in Piper history, winning three consecutive MIAC titles and earning NCAA Division III national appearances from 2009-2011. He was a key contributor on the 2011 team that participated in the national meet, where the Pipers posted a 17th-place team finish. Over his career he garnered all-conference, all-region, and CSS Academic All-American honors in cross country and track. He is a certified USATF Level 1 coach, a USATF Endurance Specialist, and had received certification from USTFCCCA as a strength and conditioning specialist.
Ruter earned his bachelor's degree from Hamline, double-majoring in exercise science and psychology double majors. He served as a co-captain of Hamline’s cross country team his senior year, in addition to serving as the vice president of the Undergraduate Student Congress. He received his master's of education degree from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2016, studying applied kinesiology with an emphasis in sport and exercise science, and will be pursuing a master's degree in education at Augsburg while earning his initial teaching licensure.
