Braegelmann named SCSU head volleyball coach

Chad Braegelmann knows he's in for a challenge.

St. Cloud State named Braegelmann as its new head volleyball coach Monday morning. He is leaving Division III Minnesota-Morris for a program that finished 1-19 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference last season and 7-21 overall.

Braegelmann, a Rocori High School graduate and Richmond native, becomes the fifth coach in the history of the program. He replaces Michelle Blaeser, who resigned in April.

"We're going to have to change the past history and have higher expectations for the future," said Braegelmann, who has gone 285-171 in his 14 seasons as a head coach at Morris and Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. "We're going to change the culture and expect success.

"When you go to a St. Cloud State baseball or football game, you expect them to win. We want people to expect the same out of St. Cloud State volleyball. We want people to expect us to be competitive."

Braegelmann, 37, beat out Southern Illinois assistant coach Todd Nelson and Wisconsin-Stevens Point head coach Abby Sutherland for the job. Braegelmann has been the head coach at Morris since 2008.

Braegelmann will make an annual salary of $85,000, which includes $20,393 in supplemental pay for other duties at the school.

St. Cloud State junior hitter Macy Weller was excited about Braegelmann's hiring. Weller, a former prep star at Sauk Centre, was recruited by Braegelmann coming out of high school.

"(Senior libero) Brianne Stamer and I went down to say hi this morning and chatted with Chad for about five minutes. Nothing really important was said, but you can tell we already click with him. He's excited to be here and we're ecstatic to have him," Weller said.

"Brianne and I were coached by him in camps growing him. We know what to expect from him. He's a great guy and a great coach."

In seven seasons at Morris, Braegelmann posted a 129-91 record. The Cougars won the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference title in 2013. Last year, the Cougars went 23-12 overall and 12-2 in the UMAC. Braegelmann was named the UMAC coach of the year in 2010 and 2013.

At Colby Sawyer, Braegelmann had a 156-80 career record from 2001-07, and his teams won two Commonwealth Coast Conference championships.

Braegelmann found out he had the job late last week. He notified his former players at Morris over the weekend. He'll be getting in contact with St. Cloud State's players over the next week.

"I can't wait to get started," he said. "I was on campus (Monday) and will have a lot to do until practice starts on Aug. 17. My family and I were already looking at homes this weekend in the St. Cloud area. We'll have to move fast, but I know we'll work something out."

Marci Taumalolo, who took over for Blaeser after Blaeser was placed on paid administrative leave last October, will remain under contract as the program's assistant coach for the 2015 season.

St. Cloud State opens the season on Sept. 4 with a match against Central Missouri at the Central Missouri Tournament. St. Cloud State's home opener is Sept. 17 against Bemidji State.

Braegelmann and his wife, Natalie, are moving their four sons before school starts. Tyler is 12, Riley is 10, Calvin is 8 and Kolby is 6. Braegelmann admits that getting the job in early July isn't ideal when practice starts in a little over a month.

"We need to get logistical things done first and then worry about practice stuff," he said. "It will be fun working with Marci to get to know the players more. There will be changes, but I still want to talk about some traditions we can keep up."

Braegelmann knows that finding success in the NSIC won't be easy. The conference features seven-time national champion Concordia St. Paul, Southwest Minnesota (which made the Division II championship match last year) and other traditional winning programs like Minnesota State, Wayne State (Nebraska) and Minnesota-Duluth.

"We would be crazy not to be intimidated by some of the teams we'll be facing. We were 1-19 last year. We'll be the underdogs in every match," he said. "These kids have played against these teams before. It may seem like a daunting task, but hopefully these young women will work hard and good things will happen."

Weller said the players know it will take some time for Braegelmann to get up to speed. But mostly, they're just excited to have a head coach after months of uncertainty.

"The biggest challenge for him will be implementing his idea of what our program will be. We've been through some difficult times and it will take some time for him to get it rolling. We're on board with him," Weller said. "He's what our program needed.

"The best part about Chad is that he's concerned about building us not only as players, but as people. That's what I'm most looking forward to. He'll create a great environment for us as student-athletes."

Follow Andy Rennecke on Twitter @AndyRennecke. Contact him at 255-8735.