Dwight Lundeen never planned it to go this way.

Fifty-six years in the same job? Who does that?

But what Becker’s Hall of Fame football coach readily admits — a cornerstone to his longevity — is knowing a good thing when he sees it.

It was 1969. Lundeen had just graduated from St. Cloud State and was hoping for a teaching job nearby while his future wife, Pam, finished school.

“Becker was kind of a new school and they offered me a job,” Lundeen recalled. “She had one year left and I just wanted to stay nearby.”

Fifty-six years later, the only football coach in school history — and the second-winningest coach in state history with 412 career victories — Lundeen, now 80, is still going strong. His sandy-blonde hair is more gray than not, but his passion remains.

“I really enjoy coaching. And the kids are great,” Lundeen said. “They’re bigger, stronger and faster now than when I started, with all the weight rooms and nutrition and technology. Parents are a little more demanding. I understand that. They’ve invested more money in camps and lessons. But the kids are always great.”

Under Lundeen, Becker has won four state titles, has been state runners-up five times and advanced to the state football tournament 18 times. The Bulldogs last won a state title in November with a 24-8 victory over Totino-Grace in the Class 4A championship game.

Lundeen built the Bulldogs into an elite program that routinely noses around near the top of state rankings. Seeing the name Becker on the schedule always makes opposing coaches and fans uneasy.

It’s a run of success Lundeen is quick to appreciate. As the architect of the program, building it from scratch beginning in 1970, the lean times are still fresh in his memory.

“I’ve learned a lot of lessons the hard way. When we started the program, we were really bad,” Lundeen laughed. “The first speech was ‘This is a football’, things like that. Very basic.”

Through his time at Becker, Lundeen has worn a lot of hats in addition to teaching and coaching football. He has been athletic director, basketball coach, golf coach, and more. A devout and dedicated Christian, he and his wife, who also took a teaching position at Becker when she graduated, began the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at the school.

His faith not only drives him but influences his perspective on coaching. He’s not worried about something as simple as wins and losses, taking instead a broader view.

“There needs to be purpose,” he said. “Your goal is to win every game, but it’s important to do it with a purpose. I’ve learned a lot of life lessons that are much bigger. We were throttled a lot early on. I really had to learn that the score of the game doesn’t define who you are.”

Even after Becker established itself as a perennial power, Lundeen never lost sight of the bigger picture.

“We’ve had some terrible losses over the years. We lost a game one year at the Metrodome 22-21 on the last play of the game,” he said. “There’s no way I could possibly go 50 years and go through this again and again. It’s very important that I demonstrate how to win and how to lose. Hopefully, I’ve gotten that across to the kids I’ve talked to.”

After Becker was dominated by Orono 21-0 in last week’s season opener, Lundeen wasn’t angry or sullen. While he wasn’t pleased with the outcome, his response was far more pragmatic. It was time to get to work, coaching his players on ways to improve.

“We just did a number of things not very well. But Orono deserved to win. My hat’s off to them,” he said after the game. “We’ll go back to work and fix the things we can fix. We’ll coach them the same way as if we had won 21-0, because there’s always stuff to fix. That’s what coaching is.”

After 56 years, Lundeen admits he sees the end horizon, but he is not quite ready yet to call it quits. He retired from teaching — he taught physical education and geography — a few years ago but still enjoys his time with the kids and being a mentor and role model for young coaches.

He has already discussed a sunsetting plan with Becker athletic director Dave Niemi. “It’s getting closer,” Lundeen said. “I want to make sure everything is set so they’ll be successful.”

For now, Lundeen’s enjoying retirement, playing pickleball, which is a “neat game for 80-year-olds,” he said, golfing and coaching football. Looking back, he came up with words of wisdom for his younger self.

“I would tell Dwight to enjoy the journey,” he said. “I’ve probably gotten better at that than when I started. And appreciate the relationships you develop.”