Kelly Mahlum was a celebrated player at St. Benedict in the 90s and a successful head coach at Wittenberg the past four seasons. Photo art by St. Benedict athletics

After serving as the head coach at four other Division III programs, Kelly Mahlum is returning to the MIAC where she was an All-American player to lead the St. Olaf women's program.

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St. Olaf athletic director Ryan Bowles announced the hire in a release on Friday.

"We are thrilled to welcome Kelly and her family to the Hill," Bowles said in the release. "It became clear to all of us involved in the search that Kelly had the perfect combination of experience, drive, and care for the student-athlete experience. Her experience as an accomplished player in the MIAC, her ties to Minnesota, and her vast head coaching experience mesh perfectly for what we continue to strive for within St. Olaf athletics."

Mahlum was a four-sport athlete at conference rival St. Benedict where she was a Kodak All-American and two-time all-conference honoree for the Blazers. Mahlum was the starting point guard and leading scorer on St. Benedict's 1993 national semifinals team that lost by one at eventual champion Central. Mahlum also played three seasons of softball, one volleyball and one soccer at St. Benedict.

As a coach Mahlum started her career in Division III as an assistant coach to recently retired Caroll LaHaye at Randolph-Macon for three seasons. She then became Greensboro's first head coach in 1999 where she went 19-32 in two seasons with the Pride. She moved to Colorado College where she was the Tigers' head coach for seven seasons, going 64-106 and then moved back east to Bard where she was the head coach for one season in 2009-10. 

Mahlum joined Sarah Jurewicz's staff at Wittenberg in 2010 and gradually worked her way up to head coach in 2016. Under her the Tigers improved their win total each of her four seasons, including last season's 19-8 finish. Overall, Mahlum went 63-45 at Wittenberg.

Her career record as a head coach is 146-193 in 13 seasons.

"I am extremely excited and honored to become the next women's basketball coach at St. Olaf College," Mahlum said in the release. "The impressive reputation of the College and the level of excellence it provides is something I look forward to sharing with our student-athletes. 

She replaces Dave Stromme who retired in February after 13 seasons as the Oles' head coach and 33 seasons overall. St. Olaf went 9-16, 6-14 in the MIAC last season.