When Matt McGovern decided to play golf at Saint John's University, he hoped he might help the Johnnies build a winning tradition.
But even he didn't imagine the juggernaut the program has become.
"It's been so cool to watch that happen," McGovern said. "They've continued to get all these amazing players over the years to the point that they're a total dynasty now."
That process really started with McGovern, a prep standout at Northfield High School who arrived on campus as a freshman in the fall of 1997. At that time, SJU had won only one MIAC championship – that coming in 1969 – and had never advanced to the national meet, either at the NAIA or NCAA Division III level.
But, by the time McGovern finished his career in the spring of 2001, the Johnnies had won two more conference titles, earning their first two appearances at the NCAA Division III national meet (finishing seventh in both 2000 and 2001).
And McGovern himself had become just the third SJU player since 1979 to earn medalist honors at the MIAC meet – joining Brian Sweeney (1984) and Erick Reim (1992).
That laid the foundation for the success that has followed. The Johnnies have won another 13 MIAC titles since McGovern's graduation and have advanced to nationals another 18 times (making 20 appearances in all since 2000) – including winning back-to-back national titles in 2007 and '08.
"Matt and the group of guys he came in with were really the ones who got things started," said Johnnies athletic director Bob Alpers, the school's head golf coach from 1993 to 2021 and again during the 2022-23 school year.
"We became relevant as a program at the national level and Matt was a huge part of that."
Indeed, after playing through a torn ligament in his left wrist as a sophomore in the fall of 1998, McGovern rebounded to finish eighth at the MIAC meet as a junior in the fall of 1999, helping lead SJU to its first conference crown in 30 years.
He went on to finish in a tie for 13th place at the national meet in the spring of 2000, earning third-team All-American honors.
Then, as a senior in the fall of 2000, he shot a two-round score of 148 in temperatures below 32 degrees to place first at the MIAC meet, beating his nearest competitor by four strokes as the Johnnies repeated as conference champions and earned their second consecutive national berth.
"We didn't have access to the leaderboard on our phones like they do now to show us where we were at," recalls McGovern, whose cousins Ryan and Grady, swam and played football (respectively) at SJU.
His sister, Moriya, ran both cross country and track and field at the College of Saint Benedict.
"But some of my teammates had finished and come back out on the course to follow me, so I had a sense of where things stood," Matt continued. "I remember sinking my last putt and everybody coming out to give me a hug. It was a big accomplishment to win a tournament like that. It's something only a couple of Saint John's golfers had ever done to that point. So it meant a lot.
"It's a moment I'll never forget."
McGovern's presence at SJU also proved instrumental in helping the program land other players like Sammy Schmitz (Farmington) and Nathan Proshek (New Prague), who had played against McGovern in high school and went on to become multi-time All-Americans at SJU.
"Everybody knew who Matt McGovern was," Alpers said. "Getting him to come, and then the success he achieved once he got here, was a game changer for us.
"As great a player as Matt was at Saint John's, the intangibles he brought to the program were immeasurable."
Since 2006, McGovern and his wife, Kelli, have resided in Fergus Falls, where he works as an administrator for the Pemberton Law Firm. Since 2018, he's also been the head boys golf coach at Fergus Falls High School, allowing him the chance to coach his sons – Riley, who will be a senior this season, and Simon, who will be a sophomore.
"I've watched him coach his team at state tournaments and you can see how kind, supportive, encouraging and knowledgeable about the game he is," Alpers said. "It's really a joy to watch him now interacting with his own players."
McGovern said he takes a lot of pride at having laid the groundwork for the dominance that continues at SJU to this day.
"I can remember how exciting it was going to our first national meet in Michigan," he said. "We got to fly on a plane and wear suits. I don't think we understood what a monster deal it was until we got there and saw all these people watching and cameras everywhere.
"And to see how many times they've gotten back there since then is really incredible. It's a great feeling to have been part of getting that started."
