Tony Willaert was named in June of 2017 as Augustana’s Terry & Sandy Shockley Endowed Wrestling Coach. He took over in 2017-18 as the 15th head coach in the history of the Viking program.
Willaert’s tenure with the Vikings has included three individual CCIW championships and a pair of All-America performances.
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 |
REGIONAL |
NCAA |
CCIW CHAMPS |
NCAA ALL-AMERICANS |
| 2017-18 |
1 |
11 |
.083 |
7th |
11th |
30th |
1 |
1 |
| 2018-19 |
1 |
10 |
.091 |
7th |
13th |
20th |
1 |
1 |
| 2019-20 |
1 |
7 |
.125 |
3rd |
11th |
|
0 |
0 |
| 2020-21 |
6 |
4 |
.600 |
3rd |
Cancelled |
Cancelled |
0 |
0 |
| 2021-22 |
9 |
7 |
.563 |
6th |
10th |
|
0 |
0 |
| 2022-23 |
10 |
8 |
.556 |
7th |
10th |
|
0 |
0 |
| 2023-24 |
14 |
6 |
.700 |
4th |
10th |
|
1 |
0 |
| CAREER |
42 |
53 |
.442 |
|
|
|
3 |
2 |
