The College of St. Scholastica

Greg Carlson guides the St. Scholastica football program into its sixth season in 2013. The former head coach at Wabash College in Indiana and defensive line and linebackers coach for the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League has been the only coach in CSS football’s history.

Carlson has built the CSS program from the ground up very quickly, as the Saints made the NCAA Division III playoffs the past two seasons in just a handful of years. Carlson’s Saints finished a perfect 10-0 in the regular season in 2011, before falling to eventual national semifinalist University of St. Thomas in the first round. In 2012, the Saints finished 8-2 in the regular season and finished in a three-way tie for the UMAC regular season title. After the Saints were picked to represent the conference in the postseason, CSS fell to eventual national semifinalist UW-Oshkosh in the first round of the playoffs.

Carlson had 10 players named first team All-UMAC in 2011 and seven in 2012. CSS has had 25 first team all-conference selections in the first five years.

The Saints also had the conference’s offensive, defensive and special teams player of the year in 2011, while Carlson was named the UMAC Coach of the Year. In its five years the CSS football program has accumulated 102 Academic All-UMAC selections, including 30 in 2012.

Carlson works directly with the quarterbacks and coached Alex Thiry to one of the best seasons in Division III history in 2011. Thiry easily led all of college football (FBS, FCS, II or III) with a passer efficiency rating of 218.14. Thiry was named a top 10 finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, which is the Division III equivalent to the Heisman Trophy.

“We’re going to put a young man on the field that the College and the city of Duluth can be proud of,” Carlson said. “Our players will understand that what a young man does in the classroom for four years has more to do with determining his success after college than what he does on the football field. Our staff also wants young men on our roster that will help us build a football program that is recognized for its excellence at the conference, regional, and national levels.”

Carlson is a graduate of Wauwatosa West (Wis.) High School and earned an undergraduate degree in Physical Education at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He holds a Master of Education degree in Physical Education from the University of Oklahoma.

He has been a head coach twice before, leading Wabash College for 18 years from 1983-2000, and working at Whittier (Calif.) College from 2003-2005. At Wabash, Carlson compiled a 112-57-2 record and won four conference championships as the head coach, after spending three previous seasons as the program’s Defensive Coordinator. At Whittier, he took over a team that had only 13 players in the spring of 2003 and by the 2005 season had increased the team roster to more than 80 players.

His coaching resume includes stops at Ball (Ind.) State (Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator), the University of Illinois (Director of Football Operations), the University of Evansville (Defensive Coordinator), and at Metairie Park Country Day School in New Orleans (Head Coach).