Peter HaugenFaculty and Staff

Peter Haugen, a native of Minneapolis and a 1991 graduate of Bethel University, is in his 14th year as head football coach at Gustavus Adolphus College for the 2022 season.

Haugen, who was the head football coach at Washburn High School for 15 years prior to coming to Gustavus, compiled an overall record of 111-44 during that span, while winning 11 league championships and posting a league record of 76–8. He directed the Millers to the Class AAAA quarterfinals in 2007 finishing with a mark of 9–3. In his last season as the Millers’ head coach, Haugen’s squad posted a mark of 8–2. While building the program at Washburn, Haugen increased player participation from 35 players in 1994 to 110 players in 2008. He also implemented academic monitoring and meal programs for student-athletes as well as creating and directing the highly successful Washburn Athletic Leadership Academy. He has also served as the chair of the Minneapolis Football Conference and he is an active clinician working at many local and regional clinics including the NIKE Coach of the Year clinic. Haugen was also a member of the Metro coaching staff for the Minnesota All-Star game in 1998. He started his coaching career at his alma mater, serving as the offensive line coach during the 1992 and 1993 seasons.

A three-sport standout at Bethel, Haugen was a starting tight end on the football team, a starting goaltender on the hockey team, and a starting catcher on the baseball team in the late ’80s and early ’90s. In his senior year, he earned all-conference honors in football, and was selected Most Valuable Player of the hockey team.

Haugen became the 17th head coach in the 100-plus-season history of Gustavus football in 2009. The Golden Gusties have a long and storied football tradition that includes 22 MIAC titles. The program ranks in the top-50 all-time in Division III (out of 235 institutions) with a 58.0 winning percentage (518-264–21). In 2018, Gustavus joined an elite group of 58 NCAA Division III institutions whose football teams have won 500 games.

Along with great teams, Gustavus has also been blessed with many outstanding individual players, which includes 25 players who have received All-America honors, 14 who have received CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, and five who have received NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships.

Peter, and his wife, Brenda live in St. Peter and have three children, Zeke, Zoe, and Zetta.

Year     Overall     MIAC

2009       4-6        3-5

2010       4-6        3-5

2011       2-8        2-6

2012       3-7        2-6

2013       6-4        4-4

2014       6-4        4-4

2015       7-3        5-3

2016       5-5        3-5

2017       5-5        4-4

2018       6-4        5-3

2019       7-3        5-3

2020       *no season due to pandemic

2021       8-2        6-2

Overall  63-57   46-50

Courses Taught