Bio

Curtis Madson finished his sixth season as Concordia Wisconsin's Men's Volleyball head coach in 2023.

Madson has built the program from the ground up and the Falcons have taken steps forward each season, laying the foundation for a successful program.

The 2023 season saw the team capture a program-record 15 wins with a conference record of 9-3, placing them third in the NACC, the highest finish ever in program history. The Blue and White also secured an 8-4 record at home. Spencer Herman earned AVCA All-West Region honors while Ben Kayser claimed AVCA West Region Newcomer of the Year. Andy Ellingham also claimed CSC Academic All-District. CUW also claimed three All-NACC selections with Spencer Herman and Lucas Beres claiming first-team All-NACC while Ben Kayser earned All-NACC second-team honors and NACC Newcomer of the Year.

In 2022, the team set a program record of 12 victories. The Blue and White once again advanced to the NACC Tournament. Spence Herman earned AVCA All-American Honorable Mention honors and AVCA All-Region honors. CUW once again landed two All-NACC selections in James Althoff and Spencer Herman. 

The Blue and White won their first-ever postseason match in 2021 with a 3-2 victory at MSOE in the NACC Tournament Quarterfinals. The Falcons finished with a 6-8 record and a 5-5 mark in the NACC. CUW landed two All-NACC selections in James Althoff and Spencer Herman. Herman was also named the NACC Freshman of the Year. 

Concordia Wisconsin recorded its first winning season in its young existence with an 8-7 record in 2020. They put together a 5-2 record at home, which included going 3-0 at its own CUW Invitational to win the title. They broke numerous program match records during the shortened season, including kills per set (9.46), assists per set (9.08), service aces per set (1.34), digs per set (10.52), solo blocks (26), blocks per set (2.31) and points per set (13.11).

The Falcons secured nine victories in 2019 after not winning a match in 2018. During the second season in the program's history, they went 9-15 overall, 5-11 in NACC play and had six victories at home. On January 18, 2019, which was the season-opener, they defeated North Park 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-19) for the first win in program history. The success continued and Concordia Wisconsin defeated NACC rival and 13th-ranked MSOE 3-2 (14-25, 25-16, 23-25, 28-26, 15-11) for the first league victory and win over a nationally ranked opponent. In addition, on April 5 a sweep (25-15, 25-17, 25-22) over Illinois Tech at home secured the program's first spot in the NACC Tournament, the sixth seed, in program history.

Madson continued to develop the roster in 2019 and saw freshman James Althoff named All-NACC First Team and be named Sports Import/AVCA and NACC Player of the Week on February 12 (the first player to receive each honor).

Madson brings an extensive coaching background to CUW, having played volleyball collegiately and coached at Westminster College in Missouri. During his time as head coach of the Blue Jays women’s volleyball program, he guided them to 75 victories in four seasons, including a 56-16 record in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC).

During his time at Westminster, he led the Blue Jays to a minimum of 17 victories in each season and to two second-place finishes in the SLIAC standings. In the past two years, Westminster advanced to the SLIAC Tournament Championship match. Madson coached 16 All-SLIAC honorees, the 2015 SLIAC Player of the Year; along with multiple all-region selections and SLIAC Newcomers of the Year.

Madson is a product of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, where he was a 2002 graduate of Fort Atkinson High School. He was a four-year standout for the Blackhawks. From there he continued his playing career at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa where he started at libero for the Crusaders for two seasons before transferring to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. While at Carthage, Madson was a part of two conference championship teams and one national runner-up season. Madson graduated from Carthage in the spring of 2007 with a Bachelor’s Degree in physical education. During the summer of 2012, he finished his Master’s Degree in athletic administration from Western Kentucky University.

He has spent a total of eight seasons coaching at the collegiate level. From 2007 through 2008, he was the head coach and director of Carthage College’s men’s volleyball club team. The Red Men participated in one of the most prestigious collegiate club conferences in the country, the Wisconsin Volleyball Conference, as well as competed in the NIRSA National Championship. Madson was then asked to join Carthage’s Men’s Volleyball staff for the 2009 season as an assistant and the program captured the Midwest-III Conference championship. He coached five Midwest-III All-Conference selections. Due to job commitments, Madson stepped away from the college game until the 2012 season when he joined the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (Kenosha, Wis.) coaching staff. While at UW-Parkside, the Rangers amassed a 21-10 overall record and finished 10-8 in GLVC play. The Rangers qualified for the conference tournament and received a ranking within the region for the first time in program history. He coached one All-GLVC and one AVCA All-Midwest Region selection during his time there.

Madson, along with a business partner, is credited with helping to grow the men’s game of volleyball in Wisconsin. In 2008, they created Southport Volleyball Club, a boys club that provides Southeast Wisconsin with a club that competes nationally. Since its inception with one team in 2008, he left Southport with the highest numbers in history with over 50 players and five teams.

He is an accomplished high school coach as well in the state of Wisconsin. Over five seasons as the head coach of Kenosha Tremper High Schools boys’ team, Madson put together an overall record of 90-48. In his first season at the helm, he led the Trojans to the WIAA State Tournament. His 2008 team won the school’s first-ever conference championship and he repeated the task in 2011, winning both the regular-season title and the conference tournament. During that time, the Trojan volleyball team produced five WBVCA All-State selections and 17 All-Southeast Conference selections.

Madson has been on the Badger Region Board of Directors since 2018 and has served as a Badger High-Performance Coach on three different occasions on 2017, 2018 and 2021.

He has been an AVCA voter since 2019. 

Madson is married to his wife, Mallory, and the two have a son.