News Archives - 2011
Swenson, Good honored by National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Augsburg alumni Jeff Swenson '79 and Mike Good '71 will be honored for their lifetime contributions to wrestling with honors from the Minnesota Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in April.
Swenson, who served as the Auggies' head coach for 25 seasons (1980-84, 1986-2007) and is currently Augsburg's Athletic Director, will be one of five recipients of the chapter's Lifetime Service Award. Good, a two-time All-American who served as Augsburg's head coach in the 1971-72 season and now serves as chairman of the Augsburg Board of Regents, will receive the chapter's Outstanding American Award.
Jeff Swenson
Swenson has spent nearly his entire adult life as a member of the Augsburg athletic community, first as a three-time All-American wrestler, then as one of the most decorated coaches in NCAA wrestling history, and now as leader of Augsburg's 20-sport intercollegiate athletics program.
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.
Under Swenson's leadership as head coach, Augsburg won 10 NCAA Division III wrestling national titles in a 17-year span. 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. Swenson coached 158 individual All-Americans and 39 individual national champions.
In the classroom during Swenson's tenure, Augsburg produced 98 National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-Americans, the most of any college in any division in the nation, and eight College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-Americans in wrestling. Over the 10 seasons the NWCA has awarded Division III academic team national championships while Swenson was head coach, Augsburg finished second three times and first once (1998-99).
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 and the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. 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.
Mike Good
A three-time MIAC wrestling champion, two-time NAIA All-American and a state high school title holder in his hometown of Fridley, Minn., Good will be honored with the "Outstanding American" award by the Minnesota Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. According to the Hall of Fame, the Outstanding American award "demonstrates wrestling's pride in those who have used the disciplines of the sport to launch notable careers in other walks of life, such as science and technology, business and industry, government and the military, and the arts and humanities."
Good won MIAC titles in 1968 and 1969 at 130 pounds, while winning the 134-pound conference crown in 1970. In 1969, he earned NAIA national runner-up honors at 130 pounds, and in 1971, he finished fourth nationally at 134 to become the first Auggie wrestler to ever earn two All-American honors. A two-time team captain, Good was named Augsburg's Senior Honor Athlete in 1971, and was inducted into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.
After graduating from Augsburg with a major in sociology and minor in physical education in 1971, Good served as Augsburg's head coach in the 1971-72 season, finishing with a 14-0-1 dual-meet record, a second-place MIAC team finish and a 10th-place NAIA team national finish with two All-Americans.
Good served as a high school teacher and wrestling coach for five years at Blaine (Minn.) High School, before moving into the real estate industry, where he has worked for more than three decades.
