Don Olson begins his ninth year as Athletics Director at the College of St. Scholastica in 2016-17.
In his eight years leading the CSS Athletics program thus far, the Saints have captured seven straight UMAC Kruse Awards (All-Sports Trophy), have had 35 teams reach the NCAA Tournament, and have won 138 conference regular season and postseason championships. The Saints saw their first NCAA Division III National Champion in 2013 when Chelsea Johnson captured the Cross Country crown.
In 2011-12, the Saints captured 20 UMAC regular season and tournament championships, the most of any other NCAA Division III program. CSS also won the Kruse Award by 20 points, the largest margin of victory ever. In 2013-14, the Saints won the Kruse Award with the highest point total ever of 103.
In Olson’s tenure, sport offerings have grown at the college from 18-22. Football kicked off in Olson’s first year (2008), Women’s Hockey in 2010 and men’s & women’s golf in 2015.
Olson also serves on the NCAA Division III National Men’s Hockey Championships Committee as well as the UMAC Membership Committee.
Prior to coming to CSS in the summer of 2008, Olson had a 32-year association at Saint Mary’s University in Winona, Minn.
At Saint Mary’s, Olson compiled a 377-399-41 record as the men’s hockey coach, leading the Cardinals to 13 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs, two NCAA postseason appearances and one NAIA Tournament. The MIAC’s regular-season champions in 1988 and postseason tournament champions in both 1989 and 1995, Olson’s teams posted 14 winning seasons under his tutelage.
Among his peers, Olson—the winningest hockey coach in Saint Mary’s history—has earned distinction by being named the MIAC Coach of the Year on three occasions, the NAIA National Coach of the Year once, and the American Hockey Coaches Association West Region Coach of the Year three times.
His leadership skills were also evident at the NCAA administrative level where he chaired the NCAA Division II and III Hockey Championship Committee from 1992-1997, served as the Chairman for the American Women’s College Hockey Alliance Championship in 1999, and was on the Board of Governors for the American Hockey Coaches Association from 1995-1998.
Behind the bench of Cardinal hockey since 1976, Olson also took the reins of the Saint Mary’s athletic department as its Director from 1982 through 2000. He provided the planning and guidance for the department as they expanded from 12 intercollegiate varsity sports to 21, oversaw and led a coaching and support staff of 40, and managed an athletic department budget of nearly $1.5 million.
After handing the Athletic Director duties over at the close of the 2000 academic year, Olson next embarked on creating and leading the Cardinal ‘M’ Club which was aimed at developing and enhancing alumni relations and creating above-budget revenue sources for the Cardinal athletic department. He was the Director of the ‘M’ Club from 2003-2006.
Outside of the Saint Mary’s athletic lines, Olson was also active in the Winona community. He served on the local school district’s Athletic Advisory Council from 1990-1996, was a member of the Winona Area Youth Hockey Association’s Board of Directors for 10 years, and has spent countless hours volunteering with the community’s youth hockey players and coaches.
A Duluth Denfeld High School graduate, Olson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Harvard University in 1972 and only four years later was named the men’s hockey head coach at then-Saint Mary’s College, a relationship that spanned more than three decades.
