Nearly a month to the day after Aaron Berg stepped down, Lourdes has its next girls basketball head coach.
The Eagles didn't have to go far to find him.
Mark Kellen was Berg's top assistant coach, and he'll take over as the Eagles' head coach, the school announced Friday. Kellen is the fifth head coach in Lourdes girls basketball history.
The Eagles were the favorites to win the Class AA state title in 2020 but the pandemic canceled the state tournament.
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In 2021, the Eagles were 11-9 overall and the No. 8 seed in the Section 1AA tournament, but they unleashed a special run to the section semifinals before bowing out to Goodhue.
They knocked off undefeated and top-seeded Stewartville in the quarterfinals, 52-44.
Kellen isn't taking over a roster or a program that will need to be rebuilt. The Eagles will have a ton of talent next season, led by star guard CJ Adamson, who will return for her senior season. Adamson is a do-it-all multi-sport standout who can go get a basket seemingly at will. Vivica Bretton is a double-double threat every single night and the 5-foot-9 forward had a breakout sophomore campaign in 2021.
Emily Bowron and Ella Hopkins are two more sophomores who were excellent in 2021 and will only get better. So a quartet of Adamson, Bretton, Hopkins and Bowron should help Lourdes be one of the better teams in the always-terrific Hiawatha Valley League, and Lourdes always finds a way to develop talent.
Berg followed Hall of Fame coach Myron Glass who won eight state titles in his 31-year run at Lourdes. Berg went on to win 126 games in seven years.
Now, it's Kellen's turn to see what he and the Eagles can do and accomplish.
