The Guillotine
By Mike Fahey ’75
St. John’s came away with a win in a college football game against a team they always beat. Less than two weeks later, St. John’s came away with a win in a college wrestling match against a team they had not beaten in over twenty years. Could those outcomes be coincidental? Not when you learn about Brandon Novak, an assistant football coach and the head wrestling coach at St. John’s University in Collegeville.
On November 15, the Johnnies’ football team traveled to Northfield to play the Carleton Knights for the MIAC football title. Assistant football coach Brandon Novak, who formerly started for the Johnnies for three years, earned All-American honors twice, and received the most valuable player award in the MIAC in 1999, was present in spirit since the Johnnie wrestling team was at the Lakeland, Wisconsin Duals that day. Novak, as a defensive coach, helped guide and inspire the Johnnies to another memorable victory in college football.
Carleton never beat St. John’s in football before. Following Carleton’s go-ahead touchdown, and with under a minute left in the game, St. John’s masterfully orchestrated a four-play, 62 yard scoring drive with only 16 seconds left on the clock. The Johnnies defeated the Knights, 14-10. Afterwards, all of the Johnnies walked away ecstatic. They knew they had just secured both the conference crown and the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Eleven days later, on November 26, the Johnnie wrestling team and their head coach, Brandon Novak, had the same ecstatic feeling when they walked out of the Augsburg gym. They just snapped a 22-match losing streak to Augsburg, and got an 18-13 win over the then ranked No. 2 Auggies.
That wrestling win was the first win for the Johnnies over the Auggies since the 1985-86 season. St. John’s remarkable wrestling win also broke two other Augsburg longstanding winning streaks – a streak of 70 straight victories over Minnesota Division II or III opponents since 1996, and a streak of 92 straight victories over Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes going back to the 1986-87 season.
Coach Novak trained his wrestling team to become winners, something he also became very familiar with as a former Johnnie wrestler. A three time All-American at 197, Brandon placed 5th in 1997, 3rd in 1999 and won a national title in 2001. Then, in 2001, after Novak graduated from St. John’s, he became an assistant wrestling and football coach. In 2004, Novak took over as the head wrestling coach from John Elton.
So what is it about Coach Novak that helped the Johnnie wrestling team go from a 30th place finish at the NCAA Championships last year, to end up ranked as high as No. 6 in Division III this season? One person who can answer that question is Matthew Schrupp, a senior for the Johnnies, who transferred from Wartburg after his sophomore year.
According to Schrupp, a defining attribute of Novak is his ability to handle his athletes mentally. “When I left Wartburg, I had no confidence, and had made up my mind to quit. When I came here, I was still pretty mentally beat up. But, Coach Novak kept telling me I was one of the best guys in the nation--even though I had won maybe a total of 5 matches the year before, and started last year off pretty slow.” Schrupp emphasized that “He got me to believe in myself, and it’s made all the difference.” Schrupp’s record last season was 26-9.
Dustin Baxter, a sophomore at 184 and a national qualifier as a freshman, describes his coach as being “very driven and someone who relates well to the athletes.” Baxter added, “His attitude towards wrestling transgresses to daily life and he builds us not only to be great wrestlers, but also great people.”
When asked how it felt to defeat Augsburg, Baxter, a native of Alaska, also mentioned the importance of maintaining a positive attitude. Baxter said, “Our team knew we matched up well with Augsburg, and all week our attitude was that we were going to win the dual. Our mindset and attitude was a huge factor in the win. Baxter explained that he “wrestled a close match and gave up back points early in the second period and had to wrestle from behind to win a close decision.” Baxter added that, “This was my first match back after the football season so it was a great win to come back to. It was great to be in the lineup to beat a team that doesn’t often lose.”
The Johnnie 133 pounder, Mogi Baatar, a junior from New Jersey and an All-American last season, added that Coach Novak does a great job recruiting for St. John’s. Baatar also stressed that “what goes on in the wrestling room and during practice is what is making our team better because we push ourselves every day, and the wrestlers support each other. Even though Baatar lost his match against Augsburg, Baatar remained more excited about the Johnnies, than upset about his individual match. Baatar explained, “It was a great win and shows what the Johnnies are capable of.”
Dustin Baxter also emphasized the Johnnies’ value of mutual support for fellow wrestlers. Baxter explained, “The philosophy at St. John’s is different than other programs. When another guy comes in at your weight, you are there to make each other better. We are a community that offers each other support. We are competitive in the wrestling room, but it’s not like other programs. Every guy is capable of filling the spot, and everyone is responsible to make them ready for match day.”
Jacob Evenson, an Apple Valley grad in his junior year at 285, shares that perception. “Each day in the wrestling room is a battle. We are all friends on the team, but in the room, when we are wrestling, it’s more of a brawl. Each of us knows it is not personal, but we’re trying to make each other better.”
So what else sets St. John’s wrestling program apart from other Division III programs? According to Coach Novak, “We put academics first!!!! We realize that wrestling is a building block for all the other great things that are going to happen in our wrestlers’ lives. We want all of our guys to feel that they are a part of this team, and that their contributions do matter. We also make wrestling fun. Every day we try to add a little excitement to their wrestling style.”
When Novak was asked how the Johnnie team got to the point where it attained the 6th ranking in the nation, and was able to successfully compete against teams like Augsburg, Novak attributed much of the team’s success to finally having a full, talented and dedicated team. “We have ten great starters and we have another ten guys waiting to get their chance to be a starter. It is hard to be a great team without having great teammates pushing you every day.”
This year’s varsity has one freshman (Chad Henle, 125, New London-Spicer), five sophomores (Minga Batsukh, 141, St. Benedict’s Prep; John Vaith, 149, Hastings; Matt Baarson, 157, Champlin Park; Dustin Baxter, 184 and Tony Willaert, Mankato), two juniors (Mogi Baatar and Jacob Evenson) and two seniors (Matt Schrupp, 165, Watertown and Grant Eustice, 174, Mounds View).
One of the teammates pushing to be a starter is freshman Matt Pfarr from Le Sueur-Henderson at 174. Pfarr decided to attend St. John’s “because I enjoyed my campus visits, and I only heard good comments about the academics.” Pfarr added, “I decided to wrestle because I wanted to accomplish more in my wrestling career while getting a great education.”
Coach Novak, who was, and continues to be part of the great Johnnie football tradition built by head coach John Gagliardi, the winningest coach in the history of college football, sums it best when asked what is it about St. John’s that gives the Johnnie wrestling program an edge over other schools for student athletes who want to wrestle: “We have the perfect combination of Academics, Athletics and Community. We are located on a beautiful campus with 7 lakes and 3000 acres of land. We are our own community out here tucked in among the swayed pines and we are relatively close to everything that a student athlete could want. I also believe that we have the greatest alumni who are always willing to share their stories about their time at SJU and how they cherish those memories.”
