Todd Olson brings an impressive high school and college football background to his job as an assistant coach at Hamline. He started at Hamline in 2018 and is in his third season with the Pipers during the 2020-21 academic year. In addition to serving as the Recruiting Coordinator, he works with the offensive linemen, a position that he knows well, having been a starting center at St. Thomas.
His father, Warren, was a four-year gridder for Hamline (captaining the 1957 team) and was inducted into the HU Hall of Fame in 1979. Warren went on to coach at Brooklyn Center High School for 30 years, guiding the Centaurs to their first Class A Prep Bowl Championship in 1982.
Olson started his coaching career at Triton High School in 1980. He later spent two years guiding the fortunes of Anoka-Ramsey Community College. In 1987, Olson started teaching social studies and coaching the offensive line at Richfield High School and in 1991, he took over the reins, leading the Spartans to four MSHSL state tournament berths. He also spent a decade as the head man at Edina High School, winning three Class Lake Championships, while also teaching there. In all, Olson had a 120-92 won-loss mark in 21 years as a head coach, finishing with a winning overall record at each institution.
In 2005, Olson returned to Richfield High School, this time as the school’s athletic director. Since leaving the high school scene, Olson has been inducted into both the Edina and Richfield Athletic Hall of Fames.
He has also served as an assistant coach at Fergus Falls Community College, and D-II Northern State and Minnesota Crookston. He interned with the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Vikings before returning to the MIAC in 2015 as an assistant at Carleton College and now an assistant at Hamline since 2018.
Olson is a 1980 graduate of St. Thomas. He also earned a Masters in Education from North Dakota.
Olson’s son, Dylan, played baseball for Hamline and was a member of the 2011 baseball team that won the MIAC postseason tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the only time in school history.
