Todd Nelson begins his ninth season as the head volleyball coach in 2025. While at St. Kate’s, Nelson’s teams have posted an overall record of 104-83.
During the 2023 season, Nelson guided the Wildcats to another historic season with an overall record of 16-10 and MIAC record of 6-5. The team advanced to the MIAC tournament for the second consecutive season falling to Gustavus Adolphus in the semifinal round. At the conclusion of the 2023 season, Maggie Rosen and Tiffany Tellez were both named MIAC All-Conference with Madison Fagan earning Honorable Mention honors for the second consecutive year.
In 2022, Nelson led the team to an overall record of 18-8, finishing with 8-3 in the MIAC, the best in St. Kate’s history. The team advanced to the MIAC tournament for the first time since 2010, hosting the opening round and earning the program’s first-ever MIAC tournament victory.
For the first time since 1993, three Wildcats were recognized as All-MIAC. First-year Tiffany Tellez and junior Maggie Rosen were named to the All-MIAC team, while first-year Madison Fagan earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention honors. Senior Lauren Skar and Maggie Rosen were both named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team, a first for any Wildcat volleyball student-athlete. Additionally, Tellez was named the St. Catherine University Athletics Rookie of the Year at the conclusion of the 2022-23 academic year.
During his time at St. Kate’s, Nelson’s teams have improved their MIAC record each year. Nelson has recruited and coached six Wildcats who have earned All-MIAC recognition (Grace Amacher-2018, Erin Cutts-2019, Lauren Isaacson-2021, Maggie Rosen-2021 and 2022, Tiffany Tellez-2022, and Madison Fagan-2022). Five of Nelson’s student-athletes have earned the MIAC Sportsmanship award.
Success for the Wildcat Volleyball team extends beyond the court and into the classroom. The team has earned the AVCA Team Academic Award in each of Nelson’s six seasons. The award to is presented to teams that maintain a team cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher each season. In Nelson’s five years, the team has averaged a team cumulative GPA of 3.573.
During that same time, 68% of St. Kate’s Volleyball team members who were eligible to earn the honor, have earned MIAC Academic All-Conference recognition.
Nelson has a wealth of collegiate coaching experience, having served as a Division I assistant coach for the 17 years before arriving at St. Kate’s. From 2012-2016, Nelson was the lead assistant at Southern Illinois University. During his time at SIU, the Salukis posted a 101-59 record and went 62-31 in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) play. Nelson also helped guide Southern Illinois to five-consecutive conference tournaments and the school’s only NCAA Tournament bid in 2015. In his five seasons at Southern Illinois, nine volleyball players received MVC First Team All-Conference honors, two earned Second Team honors, and five Freshmen were named to the All-Freshman team. Nelson also coached and recruited an Honorable Mention and Academic All-American, two American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region players, two Academic All-District Honorees, and an MVC Freshman of the Year.
Prior to his time in Southern Illinois, Nelson spent six seasons at the University of Denver (2006-2011), where he served as the recruiting coordinator and assisted in all aspects of the game. With Nelson's assistance, the Pioneers posted an overall record of 109-82 and a 70-35 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. Denver also won two conference championships and qualified for the Sun Belt Conference Championship for six consecutive seasons.
Nelson has held assistant coaching positions at Marquette University (2002-2005), Indiana State (1999-2001), and University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) (1995-1998). In all three positions, Nelson led recruiting efforts and had a direct impact on scheduling, scouting, academic support, and running the respective team's youth summer camps. Overall, Nelson’s teams have a .588 winning percentage.
Nelson, a native of New Richmond, Wisconsin, graduated from UMD in 1998 with degrees in Elementary Education and Communications. He resides in Woodbury with his wife Sandra, son Aidan, and dog Blaze.
