Tony Willaert became the first head coach of Augustana women's wrestling with the College introduced the program in 2021-22. He has also served as the head men's wrestling coach since 2017. Willaert’s tenure with the men's team has included three individual CCIW championships and a pair of All-America performances.
In the inaugural season for the women, the Vikings went 1-2 in dual meets and grabbed ninth place at the NCWWC Southwestern Championships. In 2022-23, Augie collected a 3-2 record and earned its first home win in program history with an 18-10 victory over Quincy. The Vikings also placed third at the first-ever CCIW Championships and had two top-three finishers. Augustana improved on that mark in 2023-24 with a second-place team finish and had seven individuals secure podium finishes in their respective weight classes to earn All-Conference honors.
From 2014-17, Willaert led the wrestling program at his alma mater—Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He guided the Johnnies to a 6-5 dual-meet record in 2016-17 and third-place finish at the NCAA West Regional. He had four of his grapplers advance to the 2017 national meet, giving him a total of nine national qualifiers during his three seasons.
Willaert’s charges also excelled in the classroom. Four of his athletes earned National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-America honors in 2016-17 and the Johnnies posted the fourth-best team grade point average in the nation.
Prior to being named head coach at Saint John's, Willaert was an assistant on the Johnnie staff for three years. During that time, he mentored three All-Americans and seven Scholar All-Americans and helped lead SJU to top-three regional finishes each year.
In addition to leading the Saint John’s program, Willaert was the head coach of the Central Minnesota Wrestling Club from 2014-17. He trained a pair of state high school champions as well as a half-dozen All-Americans at the Freestyle/Greco-Roman National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota. He was also active with Minnesota/USA Wrestling and the NWCA/Fellowship of Christian Athletes Leadership Academy.
A 2011 graduate of Saint John’s, where he majored in nutrition with a sports medicine minor, Willaert was a four-year letter winner. As a senior captain for the Johnnies, he was ranked as high as third in the nation at 197 pounds and qualified for the national meet, advancing to the round of 12. His performance helped SJU finish sixth in the nation.
| YEAR |
W |
L |
PCT |
CCIW |
| 2021-22 |
1 |
2 |
.333 |
|
| 2022-23 |
3 |
2 |
.600 |
3rd |
| 2023-24 |
4 |
7 |
.364 |
2nd |
| CAREER |
8 |
11 |
.421 |
|
