Willie Nielsen joined the Macalester volleyball coaching staff as an assistant coach in August of 2026. Nielsen has coached at the club, high school and collegiate levels since 2015. Currently he is a coach at Minnesota Select Volleyball Club in Osseo, and also serves as a volleyball program assistant at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood. Nielsen recently received the prestigious Jim Stone Rising Coach Fellowship, a national program for developing and supporting volleyball leaders.
Prior to coaching at Hill-Murray, Nielsen was the JV coach and varsity assistant coach for the boys volleyball teams at DeLaSalle from 2023-25. His coaching career began as a student manager for the women’s volleyball team at UW-River Falls, where Nielsen was elevated to an assistant coach as a senior and served in that position through the season following graduation.
Nielsen graduated from UW-River Falls in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science.
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