Edina Boys’ Varsity Soccer Head Coach Dave Jenson and Assistant Coach Bill Garner won their 500th game on Friday, Sept. 27. After coaching Edina Boys’ Soccer for 38 seasons together, they’ve achieved a record of 500–160–66.
Coach Jenson led Edina to the Soccer State Tournament 12 times and won four state titles. In the 2024 season, with help from captains and seniors Tommy Ott, Tyler Baker, and captain and junior Andreas Engle, Edina stands a 10–2–3 overall record and is ranked seventh in Minnesota.
Ott said that Jenson motivated him through Friday morning runs and practices.
“[Jenson and Garner have taught me to] just always give my best effort, no matter what, and always try my hardest,” Ott said.
Jenson played soccer when he attended Edina High School and has used his experience to connect with players. Jenson shared that over the past 38 years, he has taken things he’s learned from other coaches and applied them to his own coaching style.
Senior and varsity soccer player Will Irwin shared that his dad, who played soccer at Minnetonka High School, played against Jenson and Garner when he was on the team.
“Resilience and commitment are big things that they always push. Seeing how they have been coaches for 38 years, it’s easy [for them] to fall into the same routine,” Irwin said.
Jenson emphasized his value of reliability and openness with his players. “I make the players call me by my first name,” he said.“I don’t like to be called ‘Coach’ because I want us all to be on the same page, because if something good, bad, or different happens we’re all in it together…But at the end of the day, I know I have the final word, but we kind of try to approach it that way.”
Jenson commended the Edina Soccer program in reflecting on his 500th win.“We’ve done a lot of fun things together. We’ve had some really good games, we’ve had some losses, which we learned from to get the wins we’ve had…The 500 is great. But someone told me it was, I didn’t know, so I guess that’s what we do. But very happy that our program has been able to do that,” he said.
