Lars Jensen began as a student-athlete and finished as a coach at San Francisco State. He took the reins of SF State wrestling prior to the 1983-84 season and concluded his head coaching career in 2016-17.

Jensen led the first-ever NCAA Division II national championship team at SF State in 1997.

He coached three Division I national qualifiers. Under Jensen, the Gators had a wrestler qualify for the national championship 122 times and produced 62 All-Americans. In 2012-13, Naveed Bagheri made his fourth appearance to the tournament and went on to grab the national championship title at 141 pounds, becoming Jensen's 10th individual national champion. Jensen had 55 conference champions and 67 National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic members.

Jensen began his wrestling career at the College of San Mateo, where he was named the team's outstanding wrestler for two seasons before transferring to San Francisco State in 1977. A two-time letterwinner for the Gators, Jensen qualified for the 1980 NCAA Division II Championships after capturing the West Regional title at 190 pounds. Later that year, he also participated in the U.S. Olympic Trials.

He then made the transition to the coaching ranks, serving as San Francisco State assistant varsity coach and junior varsity head coach from 1980-83. He received a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1981, a single subject teaching credential in physical education in 1982, and a master's degree in physical education in 1987, all from San Francisco State.

Following the 1983-84 season, his first season as head coach of the Gators, Jensen was selected as Rookie Coach of the Year by Amateur Wrestling News. He was honored as a conference coach of the year seven times while also being named the NCAA West Region Coach of the Year twice and NCAA Division II Coach of the Year in 1997.

He is a member of six different halls of fame, including the San Francisco State Athletics Hall of Fame and the California Wrestling Hall of Fame.