The St. Olaf College Athletic Department and Interim Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator Kelly Mahlum announced the hiring of Megan Lueck as the 10th head coach of the St. Olaf women’s basketball program.
Lueck comes to St. Olaf after spending the last six seasons as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball program at NCAA Division I South Dakota State University, where she helped the Jackrabbits to an overall record of 157-42 (.789), five Summit League regular-season titles, three Summit League Tournament titles, and six national postseason appearances, including a run to the “Sweet 16” in 2019. This past season, South Dakota State became the first team in Summit League history to go unbeaten in conference play in back-to-back seasons. In 2024, Lueck was selected to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Next Generation Institute.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Megan to the Hill,” Mahlum said. “Her coaching experience, recruiting experience, and her overall vision for the program stood out in the interview process and are a great fit for Ole Athletics. I am excited to watch the growth of the program under her leadership. Our student-athletes are going to experience a coach that has exceptional knowledge of the game and wants to build relationships and invest in a team’s culture.”
At South Dakota State, Lueck was primarily responsible for working with the team’s defense, recruiting, game scheduling, and opponent scouting. During her time with the program, the Jackrabbits won Summit League regular-season championships in five of her six seasons and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in four-of-six seasons, while also winning the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in 2022. South Dakota State also was named the WBCA Division I academic national champions in 2022 for posting the highest team grade-point average in the country. Lueck was part of a coaching staff that mentored four Summit League Players of the Year, one Freshman of the Year, one Sixth Woman of the Year, one Defensive Player of the Year, 10 First Team All-Summit honorees, six Second Team All-Summit selections, five Honorable Mention All-Summit choices, three All-Defensive Team members, five All-Newcomer/Freshman Team honorees, and eight Academic All-League selections during her time with the program.
“I am excited and honored to be the next head coach for St. Olaf women’s basketball,” Lueck said. “Our program will have three focuses – competing for MIAC championships, preparing our student-athletes for success in life, and building lifelong relationships. I will do everything that I can to give our current and future student-athletes the best experience possible. I am grateful that Kelly Mahlum and the St. Olaf community have chosen me to lead this program and also appreciate the support I have received from South Dakota State University, my family, and my friends. I can’t wait to get back to my home state of Minnesota and get to work!”
Prior to her time at South Dakota State, Lueck spent the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons as the video coordinator for the Florida State University women’s basketball program, which advanced to the “Elite Eight” in 2017 and the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2018. The Seminole program also produced four Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) draft picks in those two seasons. Lueck got her start in coaching as a graduate assistant for the women’s basketball program at Mercer University in 2014-15 before working as the women’s basketball video coordinator at Vanderbilt University in 2015-16.
A four-year letterwinner at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Lueck, who graduated from Winona High School as the program’s all-time leading scorer, played in 86 games for the Bulldogs, helped the team to a winning record every season, was a team captain as a senior, and was a three-time Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) All-Academic Team member. She graduated from UMD with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 2014 and earned her master’s degree in educational leadership from Mercer in 2015.
