Phil Lundin is in his 12th season as the head coach of the St. Olaf men's cross country program in 2019-20 after being named to the position on May 8, 2008. He also led the St. Olaf men's track & field program for 11 seasons from 2009-19.
Lundin led the Oles to the NCAA Division III men's cross country national championship in 2013, the only NCAA Division III team national championship in any sport in school history. Led by four All-America finishers, St. Olaf edged two-time defending champion North Central (Ill.) by two points with a total of 84 points. Lundin earned United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coach of the Year honors, becoming the first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) men's cross country coach to earn the accolade. Earlier that fall, Lundin guided the Oles to the MIAC title after all five of St. Olaf's scorers placed in the top six (1-2-3-4-6) at the conference meet.
In addition to the national coach of the year award in 2013, Lundin is a six-time MIAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year (2008, 2012-16) and a four-time USTFCCCA Region Coach of the Year (2012-15). He has coached six student-athletes to MIAC Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year honors, including three-straight for Grant Wintheiser from 2012-14.
In 2014, the Oles followed up their national championship from the year before by finishing as the national runner-up, led by Wintheiser's individual national title, as the senior became the third MIAC student-athlete to win an individual national championship in men's cross country. Wintheiser went on to be named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Year and is one of three men's Division III runners all-time to finish in the top-three at the national championships three times after placing third in both 2012 and 2013.
Lundin has coached numerous All-MIAC selections and Honorable Mention All-MIAC choices, with Wintheiser and Jake Campbell '15 being two of the MIAC's nine four-time All-MIAC honorees entering 2018. At the start of the 2018 season, Oles hold three of the top-five 8K times in MIAC history.
In 2016, Lundin coached St. Olaf to its fifth-straight MIAC title, a third-place finish at NCAA Central Region Chamiponships and a 15th-place overall finish at NCAA Division III Championships, where Joe Coffey finished 23rd.
Lundin led the Oles to their fourth straight MIAC Championship title and a fourth place finish at NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championships in 2015. He coached All-Americans Jake Campbell, Paul Escher and Calvin Lehn.
In the 2014-15 season, Lundin brought the cross country team to a three-peat at the MIAC Championships and a second place finish at the NCAA championships with Grant Wintheiser capturing the NCAA Division III men's cross country individual title.
Lundin brought the Oles to a second place finish in the MIAC Championships in his second season at St. Olaf. In his first year as head coach, Phil Lundin was named MIAC Coach of the Year after St. Olaf won the MIAC Championships in 08-09 and Dubuol Ruon earned athlete of the year.
Lundin (luhn - deen), a four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, replaced Bill Thornton who retired after nearly four decades of service at St. Olaf.
Lundin spent 12 years at Burnsville High School as a health and physical education teacher and coach before moving to Minnesota as an assistant in 1986. In 1995, he was named the Golden Gophers' head coach.
Lundin led Minnesota to a combined five top-10 finishes at the NCAA's - three indoor and two outdoor - and four Big Ten titles. Over his last 10 seasons at the U, the Lundin-led Golden Gophers placed either first or second at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships eight times.
In 2003, he was named the United States Track Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year, the Midwest Region Coach of the Year and the Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading his team to the league's outdoor crown, a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Indoor's and ninth place at the NCAA Outdoor's. In that season, the Gophers also earned their first Midwest Regional Outdoor title in school history.
His student-athletes have excelled in the classroom as well. Under Lundin, Minnesota touted eight Academic All-America selections and 81 Academic All-Big Ten honors.
Lundin graduated from Augsburg College (now Augsburg University), where he captained the football and track and field teams, with a degree in physical education in 1974. He was inducted to the Auggies' Hall of Fame in 1998.
He picked up his master's in physical education in 1976 and his Ph.D. in biomechanics 1983, each from the University of Minnesota.
Lundin and his wife of 40+ years, Susan Breun, reside in Apple Valley and have two children: Daniel and Teresa.
