Joe Sweeney, the St. Thomas women's cross country coach and longest tenured current employee in St. Thomas athletics, announced his plans to retire at the end of 2021. His career is featured in an article by the Star Tribune.
From the article: He became a Tommies full-time coach in 1980-81, and over the past 15 months, he's led both sports' transition from Division III to D-I as members of the Summit League.
Sweeney's cross-country teams won the 1981 AIAW national crown and followed that with four NCAA team championships in 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987.