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Coaching Staff

Bob Carlson, Men's Soccer


Bob Carlson, men's soccer headshot, 2017Head Coach Bob Carlson
Record at School/Years:
229-128-39 (.628) / 21 seasons
Career Record:
Same
Telephone: (507) 222-5840
Email:
rcarlson@carleton.edu

The 2018 campaign marked Bob Carlson’s 22nd season at the helm of the Carleton men’s soccer program. The Knights have posted 18 winning seasons under Carlson. In comparison, Carleton posted only eight winning seasons in the 24 years prior to his arrival.

Carlson has led his team to 11 consecutive postseason berths, the longest active streak among MIAC programs. Over that span, he has guided the Knights to five MIAC regular-season titles (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012) and a trio of second-place finishes. Since the start of the 2007 campaign, his squads own a 139-54-24 record (.696).

The 2008 team captured the conference’s post-season title as well as the program’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships, where the Knights advanced to the “Sweet Sixteen.” The Knights made back-to-back NCAA Championship appearances in 2012 and 2013, the most recent trip coming after the Knights claimed the 2013 postseason crown. Bob Carlson was named the 2012 MIAC Coach-of-the-Year, marking the third time he received the honor.

With an overall ledger of 229-128-39 during his first 21 seasons at the helm, Carlson ranks first all-time at Carleton in both career victories and winning percentage (.628) among coaches with more than one season at the school. His tenure has been marked by consistent play and strong finishes in the MIAC, perennially one of the strongest men's soccer conferences in all of NCAA Division III. For the past 21 years his team has also earned NSCAA Team Academic awards, including three years in which the Knights posted the highest team grade point average in all of NCAA Division I, II and III.

A 1986 graduate of St. Olaf College, Carlson was a standout player for the Oles as a team captain, all-conference selection, and four-year letter-winner. He helped St. Olaf capture the 1984 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) crown and an NCAA tournament bid, the first-ever for a MIAC institution. As a coach, Carlson returned to Minnesota in 1991 as an assistant at Gustavus Adolphus College. During his four-year tenure there, the Gusties won two conference championships and earned two NCAA tournament bids.

A native of Illinois, Carlson was an all-area soccer and basketball player at New Trier High School. He is married to Cathy Carlson, Associate Dean of Students at Carleton; the couple has a son, Sam, and a daughter, Emma.

 

Joe Hartwell, men's soccer headshotAssistant Coach Joe Hartwell
Joe Hartwell joined the Knights prior to the 2011 season after previously spending five years as an assistant at his alma mater Gustavus Adolphus College. He was a NSCAA First-Team All-American central defender for the Gusties in 2004. Hartwell scored five goals and added two assists in addition to anchoring a defense that yielded just four goals in 23 games during that campaign. He has served as a club coach at Dakota REV for several years. He and his wife, Jessica, live in Rosemount, Minn.