MARSHFIELD — Before she returned to the sidelines in 2024, the last memory Heidi Michaelis had of coaching the Marshfield Tigers girls’ basketball program was a 77-36 loss to Hortonville in a Sectional Semifinal, played March 1, 2018 in Antigo.
After 17 seasons (2001-2018), 305 wins, nine 20-win seasons, eight Wisconsin Valley Conference championships, 11 Sectional appearances — including eight Sectional Finals — and four WIAA State Tournament appearances, Heidi was through coaching.
The time had come for a much-needed break, and to be a fan in the stands, cheering on her favorite player, daughter Caitlin, during her senior season at Minnesota Crookston.
“I think at the time, it was a perfect time to step away. And I really wanted to watch her play her senior year, and that doesn’t happen if you’re coaching,” Michaelis told us prior to a Nov. 12 team practice at Marshfield High School. “And I just… I needed a break. You need to sometimes reevaluate. And I think being away, when you come back in, you look at things differently. You’re older. Things that were a big deal ten years ago aren’t a big deal anymore. You learn to deal with things better. I think you understand the process better. I just think it’s totally different when you come back after you take a step away from it.”
Now in her second stint as Tigers coach — and her 19th season of coaching overall — Michaelis has a newfound perspective. She tells us it’s less about chasing championships and more about the process of developing young players.
“I don’t think there was pressure from anywhere else besides just my desire to get the most out of the groups or the talent that you had,” Michaelis said. “You don’t want to let a group get by and say, ‘Wow, we underachieved because I didn’t do this or this or this.’ I think any coach worth anything feels that desire to always want to be better. They want to get more out of the kids. They just want to have the group you have reach their potential. I think I can see that now, as an older person who stepped away, it isn’t always about wins and losses. It’s about maybe the growth that you see from these kids in a week, in a practice, over the course of a season, and then one season to the next season. Perspective definitely changes as you get older, and I think there’s so many important things that this game can teach young people.”
One thing that has not changed is Heidi’s approach to coaching the game of basketball.
“I think I still believe in working really hard,” she told us. “I think I still believe in defense wins championships. I think you can take any group of individuals and get them to play hard on defense and keep you in games when maybe you are not as talented on the offensive end as a lot of other teams or individuals that other teams might have. I don’t think that’s ever going to change for me. I still believe that – and I’ll say it two million times during the course of a season – the ball is gold. It’s about opportunities, and if you learn to take care of the ball, you can be in games that you otherwise wouldn’t have any deal really being in. Those are the big things that I think are super important and that probably will never change.”
The Tigers have 32 student-athletes in the girls’ high school basketball program going into the 2025-2026 season.
“I feel like it’s a good mix of kids,” said Michaelis. “You have some bigger personalities, you have some quiet personalities – everything a normal team has in a gym. But I feel like it’s a good mix of some good returning seniors mixed with a lot of kids that perhaps didn’t get a lot of playing time on varsity last year, but battled every day against our varsity, so this is going to be a fresh go-around for a lot of individuals. That’s where you’re going to see the improvement as they get more and more varsity game time.”
The current varsity roster includes thirteen players — six seniors, five juniors, one sophomore and one freshman.
“I think the big one that people know about for sure is Hailey Klumb,” Coach Michaelis said. “Three-year starter, last year Second-Team All-Conference. And to see her growth from the beginning of last year to the end of last year was crazy. She improved so much.
“Kylie Laufenberg was the other senior that saw playing time last year on varsity. Looking for her to deal with the ball, knock down some shots, and she’s a very good defender and takes pride on that end of the floor.
“And then we have a lot of people that are going to have to fill in spots, whether they’re juniors, sophomores, perhaps a freshman at the shooting guard. So we have a lot that is not set in stone.”
Other seniors on this year’s squad include Kassidy Christopher, twins Kamryn and Kendall Pearce and Hannah Ridgway.
The juniors on this year’s team are Lily Adler, Rhyan Costa, Maddie Kundinger, Audrey Luedtke and Talia Soskos.
The lone varsity sophomore is Natalie DeLany, while Kennedy Kolstad is the lone freshman.
The Tigers will open their season with a non-conference game versus Eau Claire North on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7:15 p.m. at Marshfield High School, followed by another non-conference home game against Neenah on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 7:15 p.m.
Overall, Michaelis is 319-115 in 18 seasons as the head coach of the Marshfield Tigers.
That includes a record of 34-18 in the postseason.
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