Rik Dahl

Head Coach

Rik Dahl has been named Northwestern College’s new head wrestling coach; the seventh since wrestling became a varsity sport at the school in 1969. Dahl will replace John Petty, the Raider skipper the past two seasons.

Dahl is a former All-American (’97) at Northwestern College and is currently the secondary principal and head wrestling coach at Big Sandy Schools in Simla, Colo. Prior to his administration duties at Big Sandy, Dahl coached and taught at Limon Public Schools in Limon, Colo. At Limon, Dahl coached 38 state qualifiers, 15 state placers, three finalists, and one state champion. During Dahl’s tenure the program increased from 11 student athletes in 1998 to 28 student athletes in 2004 and finished sixth in the state wrestling meet as a team in 2004.

Said Northwestern athletic director Barry Brandt, “We are pleased that Rik Dahl, a Northwestern alumnus (’97) and outstanding coach and educator, has been selected and accepted the position of head wrestling coach at Northwestern. We are excited about his enthusiasm. He will continue to build on the wrestling tradition John Petty and Paul Bartlett have created here at Northwestern.”

As a student at Northwestern College, Dahl was a wrestling All-American and team captain on the 1997 wrestling team that finished eighth at the NAIA Championships, the highest finish ever for a Northwestern squad. Dahl was a semi-finalist and took sixth place under Coach Paul Bartlett.

“It’s been a dream of mine to be back at Northwestern. This is where I was hoping to end up. I am excited to build on the great foundation that Coach Bartlett and Coach Petty have laid forth,” said Dahl. “I am forever grateful for the life transformation I experience while at Northwestern, and look forward to the privilege of working closely with young people whose lives are always being transformed during their time in Orange City.”

Dahl and his wife, Amy (Schmidt, ’93), have three sons and two daughters: Elijah (12), Joshua (10), Matthew (9), Abigail (6), and Grace (5).