Jim Moulsoff (Photo/Augsburg College)InterMat caught up with Moulsoff and talked to him about the national championship run, expectations, Donny Longendyke, Tony Valek, recruiting and more.
Augsburg entered the season ranked seventh in the nation. Did you really believe Augsburg could win a national title before the season started?
Moulsoff: Yeah, with the kids we had in the room. With the potential I knew they had, it was a matter of getting them all dialed in to wrestle for a championship. The whole process was getting them to that point. It sounds ridiculous, but yes, we believed we could make a run at it.
Going into the national tournament, many viewed the team race in Division III as wide open. What was the difference at the national tournament that allowed Augsburg to win its 12th national title?
Moulsoff: Team effort. From the get-go we knew the goal was to have 10 All-Americans. But in doing that we needed to take advantage of opportunities that presented themselves. If you have an opportunity to finish someone off with a pin, you might not get back that back. We knew we could make a run if we took advantage of those opportunities.
Donny Longendyke started his collegiate wrestling career at Nebraska before transferring to Augsburg. He compiled a record 44-2 this season and won the heavyweight title in Division III. Why has Augsburg been a good fit for him?
Moulsoff: The structure. When Donny came in we talked about how the window to compete collegiately is moving. Once that passes you, what are you going to do? So it was a matter of putting together his goals for his career, and letting him know that this is what we are going to put in place for him as far as support and structure for him to succeed. We let him know that after wrestling is over he will be setting himself up for a very comfortable life, but that we still needed to get that done. That will stay with him forever, but using wrestling as a motivator to stay focused on academics so that he can set himself up for success after college.
You coached at the high school level for several years before coming to Augsburg. What brought you to college coaching?
Moulsoff: Sam Barber. I was involved in Minnesota/USA Wrestling. Sam had just been named the head coach at Augsburg. I had worked with Sam at a couple J Rob camps. We were out at Western Regionals with the Minnesota team, and I just congratulated him. He asked me if I had ever thought about coaching in college. I told him I had but that window had passed me by. I figured I was too old. Three days later, Sam called me asked if I had thought about what we had talked about. I never even thought about it, but I thought, 'Man, did I say something wrong?' I said, 'No, Sam, I apologize, but I don't know what you're referring to.' Then he mentioned coaching in college. I said, 'Man, I didn't think you were serious.' That was basically it. I called him back two days later and told him that I would be more than honored to come on with him at Augsburg. So that's really how that opportunity presented itself.
Jim Moulsoff coaches Minnesota's Cadet team in Fargo (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Moulsoff: It's a big honor, especially with a program that has had the history and success that Augsburg has had. At times when it was going down it was overwhelming. But when you surround yourself with good people it isn't that overwhelming trying to get things done. All I can say is I feel very honored and privileged to have the opportunity to be the head coach at such a program.
Augsburg obviously has a strong wrestling tradition. Expectations are high every year. As the program's head coach, do you feel pressure to succeed?
Moulsoff: No. Expectation is never bad. That's just what the program is about. There's nothing wrong with that. If expectation comes without support it's a different animal. But we're pretty fortunate to have such a supportive alumni base here at Augsburg. The expectation is high, but it comes with a lot of support, so that makes it very manageable.
Tony Valek, a three-time All-American for Augsburg, is the associate head coach. What does Valek bring to the program?
Moulsoff: Tony is just a great young man. He's not only a three-time All-American, but a three-time Scholar All-American. He was an Elite 89 Award winner his senior year. It's a fresh view. It's recent for Tony, so his knowledge of what the kids are feeling is invaluable. He's just a sharp young man. He's just a great guy to work with. He's wise beyond his years. He's just a great resource and a great asset to the program. He just brings a lot of skills, not just wrestling skills, but everything else that goes along with it, like recruiting and being a mentor to these young men. He's just a great example for them to follow.
Jim Moulsoff hugs Mike Fuenffinger after Fuenffinger won the 125-pound national title at the NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championships (Photo/Don Stoner, Augsburg College)Moulsoff: He'll always be involved obviously just by the nature of the beast being that he was the coach for so long and an alum. He's not involved in the daily process of it. If you have to bounce an idea off an athletic director, what better resource to have than Coach Swenson. He's good to have around. He's involved, especially on the alumni side. But also he's just good advisor if we do have questions or situations that he probably experienced during his time as coach at Augsburg. So he's not involved in the day-to-day operations of the wrestling program, but is a good resource and adds value to the program.
Coming into the season many thought the Augsburg-Wartburg streak of winning every national title since 1995 was in jeopardy. What does that streak mean to you?
Moulsoff: It's unique. There are a lot of great coaches out there in Division III, and I know they all want to be that program that knocks off Augsburg or Wartburg. So it makes it very competitive. It just makes wrestling so much better because of the quality of coaching that is going on out there. But it's pretty cool in the sense that it has only been one of those two programs that has won a national title over the last 21 seasons. People thought this was going to be the year the streak snapped, but there's something to be said about tradition, not just the win streak, but the tradition of the two programs. It goes back to expectation and working to win the national title. That is the expectation.
St. Cloud State won the NCAA Division II title this year. Do you take pride in seeing another Minnesota collegiate wrestling program win a national title?
Moulsoff: Yeah, I think that's awesome. Coach Costanzo is doing such a great job up there. With the work they are doing, I was so happy for them. For them to win their first title it says a lot about the quality of kids that there are in the state of Minnesota. It says a lot about the work that is being done up there. It would have been awesome to hit the trifecta and have Minnesota win a national title in Division I. But it didn't happen. I remember in 2001, Minnesota won it in Division I, NDSU won it in Division II and Augsburg won it in Division III. Out of the 30 wrestlers in those three lineups, I believe 24 were native Minnesota wrestlers.
Jim Moulsoff yells instructions during the Auggies' dual meet against Wartburg on Feb. 5 at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis (Photo/Stephen Geffre, Augsburg College)Moulsoff: Yeah, it makes recruiting a little bit more challenging. But it's neat to see these kids have opportunities to go on and have a good collegiate wrestling experience and get their education. That just makes wrestling strong. But you have to hustle a lot harder than in the past when it comes to recruiting.
What type of student-athlete do you look for when recruiting at Augsburg?
Moulsoff: We're looking for a young man that is highly motivated, not just on the mat, but also academically. College education isn't cheap. You can't recycle time. You have to take advantage of the time you have right now and not waste your time because you can't get it back. We're looking for someone who has high goals, wants to be competitive in both athletics and academics. We're always looking for a good student-athlete, someone who has a good balance.
Over half the lineup from your national championship team graduates, including four All-Americans. What are your expectations for next season?
Moulsoff: We still return something like 42 or 43 points from last year's national tournament. We have freshman national tournament qualifier Gable Frandsen returning. I think he's just starting to hit his stride. Eric Hensel is a returning All-American. He won the award for most pins and was a dangerous guy. He put up a lot of points. Plus, we have national champion Donny Longendyke and national qualifier Marcus Hamer returning. They're not the only four in the room. Everybody else in the room wants to be the next guy. They're highly motivated. We're just looking to reload, get everybody back in place, and do the best we can at making another run.
This story also appears in the June 12 issue of The Guillotine. The Guillotine has been covering wrestling in Minnesota since 1971. Its mission is to report and promote wrestling at all levels -- from youth and high school wrestling to college and international level wrestling. Subscribe to The Guillotine.
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