In 1984, Dr. Paul Bartlett took his first head coaching position with the men's wrestling program at Northwestern College, a role he served in for 22 years. During his tenure at Northwestern, Bartlett served as president of the NAIA Wrestling Coaches Association (WCA) from 1995-1997, and served on numerous committees within the WCA. Two of Bartlett’s squads took home the NAIA Sportsmanship Award (2004 and 2006). Bartlett coached 11 Scholar-Athletes, 18 All-Americans (including current head coach Rik Dahl in 1997), and two Academic All-Americans.
In addition to his coaching career, Bartlett retired from his full-time role at Northwestern in the spring of 2022 after 38 years on Northwestern’s faculty. After his time as Northwestern's women's golf head coach, Bartlett served as head wrestling coach from 1984 to 2006. The chair of Northwestern’s kinesiology department for 14 years, Bartlett led several study-abroad classes and sports ministry trips to the Czech Republic and Latin America.
In 2008, Bartlett was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame for meritorious service.
