Lundin leaving Gophers for St. Olaf

The leader of the U track and field program for the past 13 years will take the reins at Division III St. Olaf.

By DENNIS BRACKIN, Star Tribune

Last update: May 9, 2008 - 8:38 AM

Phil Lundin has been one of the nation's most successful Division I track and field coaches, winning four Big Ten team titles and earning national coach of the year honors in 2003.

On Thursday afternoon Lundin assembled his team to tell them he was resigning to accept the men's cross-country/track and field job at Division III St. Olaf College.

Which prompts the obvious question: What in the world is Lundin thinking? A top-notch coach taking a slight pay cut -- "not draconian," Lundin said --to move from Division I and its world-class track athletes to the non-athletic scholarship world of Division III?

"I know it's weird for a Division I guy to head down [to Division III],'' said Lundin, in his 13th season as Gophers men's head coach after 12 years as Roy Griak's assistant. "But it's not weird when you start looking at my background, and where I came from."

Where he came from is where he's heading: the MIAC. Lundin, 55, is a graduate of Augsburg College, which like St. Olaf is one the conference's small private schools.

Lundin has long been viewed within the university as someone who marches to his own drummer -- "unique" in the words of Gophers assistant AD Marc Ryan, who oversees the track programs.

And so his move, surprising on the surface, was less so to those who know him.

"I've known him for years, and we've talked a lot about goals and values and what not," Ryan said. "So this is not a shock.''

Lundin said he thought several times over the years about returning to Division III. But he never got serious until St. Olaf posted its job in February after the resignation of longtime coach Bill Thornton.

After much introspection -- "I had to take a dramatic pause and think hard" -- Lundin came to the conclusion that St. Olaf was a perfect fit. Lundin, who has a master's degree in physical education and a Ph.D in biomechanics, heads to a school with a strong academic history and a renewed emphasis on athletics that includes a new state-of-the-art indoor track facility.

St. Olaf also has Norwegian and Lutheran ties -- similar to those of Augsburg.

"I'm not an intellectual at all -- more philosophical than anything," Lundin said. "But to come from a Division III setting, and then being a high school coach and teacher for many years [at Burnsville], I feel like I'm going back to my roots."

St. Olaf A.D. Matt McDonald said he had an early talk with Lundin to make sure the coach wasn't burned out on coaching and looking for a soft landing. Lundin quickly erased those concerns, McDonald said.

"We feel like we have one of the top track and field coaches in the nation -- at any level," he said.

Lundin said he leaves the Gophers with nothing but positive feelings. He said his only concern is "the wake of turbulence that I leave" at the university, announcing his departure before the season's end. His athletes felt that turbulence when Lundin delivered the news.

"At first, I was in complete shock," said junior co-captain Walter Langkau. "It's definitely saddening. For most of us who have been here three, four years, he's almost more of a father figure."

Ryan said the Gophers will conduct a national search for a replacement. Lundin said he assured his athletes that he will give them all he has through this season, and then move on to a new chapter in his life.

"I'll be coaching and teaching an activity class, [at St. Olaf]," he said. "I'll brush up on my Lutheran dogma, get out my old lutefisk recipe and find some Ole and Lena jokes. I'm fired up. It's going to be good."

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