Am a bit late with this as I was on vacation this last week but wanted to update everyone on the two recent coaching hires that have recently taken place on the MIAC Women's Basketball front.
Augsburg filled the vacancy left by Ted Riverso's retirement by snagging Mallie Doucette who had most recently been an assistant over at DII Concordia St Paul from 2022-24. Before that, Doucette had stints at both UW-Eau Claire and Minnetonka HS and had played collegiately at St. Cloud St so it does seem like a reasonably solid hire by AD Jeff Swenson.
St. Olaf meanwhile settled on a new coach as Interim AD (and former HC) Kelly Mahlum selected Megan Lueck who comes to Northfield after a six-year stint as an assistant at D1 South Dakota St. Lueck also had previous stints at both Florida St and Mercer and had a solid playing career at UM-Duluth so this also looks to be a pretty solid "get" as well for the Oles in going forward.
Like Courtney Shelton who came to SMU back in late April, both Doucette and Lueck face something of an uphill task in getting their programs back to relevancy status in a conference like the MIAC that - for right now anyway- is dominated by both GAC and Concordia with two or three other teams right below them so all three will have their work cut out for them when it comes to not only recruiting but getting players who will "fit" their respective systems which hopefully translates into a competitive product in a very competitive conference. At the same time, these hires all appear to be very good as they bring a certain degree of youth and enthusiasm that can breathe fresh air and energy into programs that desperately need it. Time is the ultimate teller, of course, but all three need a certain amount of time to "plant the seed" and let their respective trees grow.
As always, please feel free to fire away with thoughts......
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