Brad Salem was named the 20th head football coach in Augustana College history on December 3, 2004, succeeding Jim Heinitz, the longest-serving and winningest coach in Viking history.
Salem will lead the Vikings into a new era in Augustana football as they open play on campus for the first time in 50 years on Sep. 5 when Augie hosts Emporia State.
Salem led Augustana to identical 8-4 records in 2008 and 2009 and posted a 31-25 record in five seasons as the head coach at Augustana.
Salem led the Vikings to a fourth place finish in the team’s first season in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, before beating Missouri Western State 37-16 in the 43rd annual Mineral Water Bowl.
Salem was named the Vikings' head coach after spending one season as the team's offensive coordinator.
He was promoted to offensive coordinator following the 2003 season. In 2003, Salem returned to Augustana after a 10-year hiatus to serve as the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach.
It didn’t take long for Salem to make his mark on the Augustana program. In his first season in 2005, he directed the Vikings to a 6-5 overall record, the program’s first winning season since 2002.
In addition, Augie went 2-4 in the NCC, snapping an 11-game conference losing streak in the process. In 2006, Augustana won its first 3 games to extend its winning streak to 6 games, the longest winning streak since the 1959 and 1960 seasons.
Prior to returning to Augustana in 2003, Salem spent a decade coaching in the high school and college ranks. He served as recruiting coordinator and passing coordinator for three seasons at the University of South Dakota.
Before USD, Salem was the offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) where he coached quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs. In 1996, Salem was the defensive coordinator at Lansing (Mich.) Everett High School.
From 1994-96, Salem served as the offensive graduate assistant at Michigan State University where he worked with the quarterbacks and wide receivers under George Perles and Nick Saban.
Salem's first coaching experience came in 1993 when he was the offensive coordinator for Robinson Sphinx of the European Professional Football League in Paris, France. Salem later came back to Augustana in 1993 where he coached the defensive backs as a student assistant.
Salem played quarterback and wide receiver for Coach Jim Heinitz at Augustana from 1990-92 and was a quarterback at Northern Arizona University from 1988-90.
He earned his master's degree in 1996 from Michigan State University in athletic administration and his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Augustana in 1992.
Salem’s love of football coaching is shared with his family: his father, Joe Salem, is the former head coach at the University of South Dakota, Northern Arizona University and the University of Minnesota, his older brother Tim is currently offensive coordinator at the University of Central Florida and twin brother Brent is offensive coordinator at O'Gorman High School in Sioux Falls.
Salem and his wife Christina, who serves as Augustana’s Director of Development Communications and Grants, have two sons, Elijah and Jeremiah.
