Tyson Thivierge is so much more than just a great wrestling coach, and Northern is lucky to have him

Tyson Thivierge couldn't have asked for much more out of his college wrestling career. It was as dominant as dominant gets, including an individual NAIA national championship in 2002.

No doubt, Thivierge had an amazing Lights' career, one that worked out well for him, and for Montana State University-Northern.

Now, that partnership is working out spectacularly well again. And on Saturday, in Concordia, Nebraska, Thivierge reached a milestone that shows just how good things are.

The now veteran head coach achieved his 100th-career dual win Saturday in Nebraska as the Lights defeated Oklahoma Wesleyen.

The 100-win milestone is the latest chapter in an impressive coaching career at Northern. In 12 years at the helm for the Lights Thivierge, has produced a total of 44 NAIA All-Americans, five Individual National Champions, 16 national finalists, 19 NAIA Academic All-Americans and has placed his teams in the Top 10 of the NAIA National Championships a total of 10 times. His teams have won the NAIA Sportsmanship Award a total of five times and they have placed in the Top Three of the NWCA All-Academic Teams the last three years (2020-2nd, 2019-1st and 2018-3rd).

Yes, just like when he was a wrestler at Northern, Thivierge has also had a dominant career as a head coach at his alma mater.

And yet, the statistics don't tell the entire story.

I've been privy, as sports writers often are, to a deeper look inside the Northern program run by Tyson. And the first thing I can tell you is he loves MSU-N wrestling to its very core. He came back to Havre because of that love. He came to Havre at a time when Northern wrestling was struggling, like it hadn't struggled in the modern history of the program. So, really, there was no one else but Thivierge to turn things around.

And turn things around he did. Tyson turned the Lights around because he's a great wrestling coach. That is obvious. He's really good at what he does. He's motivated, dedicated, driven, competitive, he's a veritable wrestling encyclopaedia, he's a great recruiter, he's intelligent, I could go on and on. Yes, Tyson has every attribute that it requires to be a great coach, and it's shown in what he's done in his 12 years at Northern.

Again, though, it goes much deeper and, in my opinion, Tyson turned Northern wrestling back around because of his love for the program and the school. Let's face it, every alumni loves their school, and the sport they played there. But do they all mean it all the time? Do they all prove it? That answer would be no.

Tyson Thivierge means it, though. He meant it so much that he came to Havre, he set down roots in Havre with his young family, and this is where they chose to make a home, a life, and where he chose to advance his coaching career. He chose it for the simple reason that he loves MSU-Northern.

Yes, Thivierge loves Northern, and as someone who has been covering Northern wrestling for a long, long time, and someone who has been involved in the sport of wrestling even longer than that, I appreciate and am damn glad Tyson loves Northern, and am damn glad he's here.

And I know all of you who love Northern wrestling and support it, I know you feel the same way. Northern is lucky to have Tyson Thivierge, as a wrestling coach, as an educator and as a person.

So congrats, Tyson, on your latest milestone. It is an impressive one. But everything you've done at Northern is impressive, and we all look forward to many more really impressive years to come.