Legendary Lakeville Coach Retires with Legacy of Life Lessons

If there is one thing Lakeville North Assistant Volleyball Coach Julie Marvets will remember from her time spent winning volleyball matches with Head Coach Milan Mader, it will be Mader’s jaw-dropping stories.

Mader’s stories were often about hard times growing up in Czechoslovakia—which has since split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. But whatever the story was, they were told for one purpose, and that was to teach and influence young minds about hard work and sacrifice.

Assistant Volleyball Coach Doug Bergman also remembers hearing lessons from Mader’s past.

“He has a memory that is crystal clear and can talk about things like they were yesterday,” Bergman said. “He always brought up situations from the past in order to learn in the future.”

Mader is no stranger to hard work. He has more than 44 years of coaching under his belt, with 15 state volleyball tournament births and six state championship appearances. He also won 10 state championships coaching gymnastics, six in a row from 1995-2000.

His hard work has produced him an astounding resume, which includes 806 victories as a volleyball coach. He and Gail Nucech of Hibbing are the only two volleyball coaches in Minnesota history to have collected 800 victories.

Mader's coaching success on the volleyball court and gymnastics floor has already got him enshrined in the Lakeville High School Athletic All of Fame as well as the University of Minnesota Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

And the sweetest cap off to a legendary career came last year when Lakeville North won the state volleyball championship for the first time. Now, after creating more stories to tell, Mader is retiring.

Mader was out of town, so he was unable to comment on his decision to retire. But Marvets believes the reason is to spend more time with his wife, Maria, and the rest of his family, his biological family that is.

It’s no secret that Mader made those who coached alongside him feel like they were part of his family as well. He wasn’t afraid to start and cultivate close relationships with those around him.

“He made every coach feel as if they were special,” Marvets said. “I feel as if he was another dad.”

Marvets played high school volleyball at Apple Valley. She played against Mader 25 years ago, and beat Mader on the way to a state championship. After her playing career she got into coaching, where Mader asked her to help him coach the Lakeville volleyball squad.

He also recruited Bergman, who coached against Mader for 14 years as the head volleyball coach at Jefferson High School in Bloomington.

Mader’s success over the years can be attributed to his passion for both volleyball and gymnastics. But he didn’t just instruct high school athletes on how to bump and set on the volleyball court or how to land a back handspring during the gymnastics season.

His passion for teaching kids is what made him a success, not just in sports, but in delivering life skills that can be used in the world outside of high school athletics. 

Former Lakeville North volleyball player Kellie McNeil, who was the Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year in 2010, said she will take advice she got from Mader and apply it to her future. Things like always being on time, having a passion for what you are doing and having to earn what you get are all lessons McNeil will take with her as she plays volleyball at the University of Minnesota.

It’s the best coaches and teachers in our lives that inspire us to be the best we can be, and Mader has proven—in and out of high school athletics—that he has been one of the best.

“There is just something about him,” McNeil said. “He makes you want to play hard and be the best you can be.”

For years, Mader built an elite volleyball program from his “office,” or as most would know it: the storage closet connected to Lakeville North’s main gymnasium.

He built success by taking a holistic approach. Starting with the youth program, Mader made sure the young athletes had the best instruction possible and that they were being introduced at a young age to the concepts that made Lakeville North volleyball successful. 

“He had a vision for the whole program,” Bergman said. “It all starts with the youth program, not just the high school kids.”

Although Marvets believes he will still be involved in the volleyball program to some degree, he will no longer be steering the program.

Former Lakeville North ninth-grade volleyball coach Steve Willingham will take over as head coach of the Panthers. Whatever the future holds, there is one thing that is sure. Willingham will have quite a bit of momentum as he takes over a program that was built from the ground up into one of Minnesota’s premier volleyball squads.

“Mader built the foundation for the volleyball program here at Lakeville North,” Bergman said. “Hopefully it will last for a long time.”