COACHING STAFF

Behind The Scenes Staff Feature

Head Coach Bob Alpers

BOB IS BACK: Athletic director Bob Alpers ‘82 is back at the helm of the Johnnies’ golf program. Alpers, who relinquished the position he held for 28 years in 2021 to focus on his duties as SJU’s athletic director, will once again lead the two-time defending, MIAC-champion Johnnies in 2022-23. He guided the Johnnies to back-toback NCAA Division III championships in 2007 and 2008, 12 MIAC titles and 19 NCAA appearances. SJU finished in the top 10 at nationals 11 times (14 times in the top 15). Only one school in Division III has more appearances at the NCAA Championship during the last 20 years.

During his previous tenure as head coach, SJU produced 33 All-Americans and 47 Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Scholar All-Americans. A Johnnie earned MIAC Golf of the Year honors for the first 12 seasons of the award’s existence and 13 times overall during his tenure. Alpers was named the 2007 Eaton Golf Pride National Coach of the Year and was inducted into the GCAA Hall of Fame - the eighth from Division III - in 2010. He is a five-time GCAA Region Coach of the Year and has won MIAC Coach of the Year honors 13 times.

Assistant Golf Coaches

STEVE TAX

Tax is in his second season as an assistant golf coach with the Johnnies in 2022-23. He was an assistant golf coach at Saint Benedict from 2010-20, and coach football (2001-09) and boys (200215) and girls (2009-15) golf at Osakis High School. A graduate of Bemidji State, Tax was a four-year letterman for the Beavers at safety and was inducted into the Pierz High School Hall of Fame in 1997. He is in his 32nd year of teaching and is the Talent Development Specialist at Westwood Elementary in St. Cloud. Steve and his wife Lisa have two grown sons and live in Sartell.

Esten Stensrud

A 2021 graduate of SJU, Stensrud is in his second season as an assistant goal coach in 2022-23. He was a Scholar All-American and member of the Spring 2021 team (due to COVID-19) that won the MIAC title and competed at the NCAA Championships. He earned All-MIAC honors by tying for fifth place at the conference meet that year.

Charlie Stuck

Stuck is in his second season as an SJU assistant golf coach in 2022-23. He is a 2021 graduate of SJU and earned All-MIAC honors in 2019 with an eighth-place finish at the MIAC Championships.

David Schneider

The 2022-23 season is Schneider’s first as an assistant coach for SJU golf. A 2020 graduate of SJU, Schneider was a two-time All-American, two-time Scholar All-American, three-time All-MIAC and a member of two teams that competed at the NCAA Championships.

Cory Thorson

Cory is in his first season as an assistant golf coach and the seventh as an assistant hockey coach at SJU in 2022-23. A 2014 graduate of St. Cloud State University, Thorson played four seasons of NCAA Division I hockey with the Huskies.

Proud Sponsor And Contractor For Johnnie Athletics