Rollin Timm

NEW ULM — Rollin Timm has many things to be proud of from his 28 years of coaching and teaching at Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School.

But for all he has accomplished at MVL, Timm credits God, his athletes and his assistants more than anything.

Timm will officially retire from MVL at the end of the month.

Timm has been able to teach and coach several All-Conference, All-Section and state tournament-level athletes during his career at MVL, and seeing them grow and mature as scholars, athletes and people has meant a lot to him.

“The most rewarding part is just watching the students mature and working with them and helping them achieve their goals,” he said. “Watching them grow from their first year of school or their first year in a sport or activity and watching them, by the time they’re seniors, how much they’ve matured. Watching them grow physically, mentally, spiritually, it’s just a joy.”

Starting at MVL in 1998 as a teacher, JV football coach and weightlifting coach, Timm took on many roles and didn’t stop there. He was the offensive coordinator for the Chargers varsity football team from 2001-07, with a state tournament appearance in 2005, before stepping down when his son Daniel graduated MVL and went to play college football at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Timm was also the MVL girls basketball coach for the C-squad and JV teams from 2008-14 before stepping in as the girls varsity basketball head coach from 2015-22. As the head coach of the varsity girls basketball team, the Chargers went 96-83 after starting with three losing seasons and having to navigate a tricky 2020-21 season restricted due to COVID. He was the Tomahawk Conference Girls Basketball Coach of the Year during the 2021-22 season before coaching JV again from 2022-24 and becoming a varsity assistant from 2024-25.

Outside of the classroom and gymnasium, Timm spent most of his time at MVL on the track as the head varsity track and field coach. He coached from 2001-26 in that role and was a 16-time Tomahawk Conference Coach of the Year, 10 times for the boys and six times for the girls. During that time, the boys were 16-time Tomahawk champions, while the girls were seven-time Tomahawk champs and were the South Central Conference champions this past season.

The MVL boys track and field program also won five Section 2A True Team championships, while the MVL girls were two-time Section 2A True Team champions and two-time section champions. During Timm’s tenure as head track and field coach, there have been 64 different events from relays and individual events qualify for state, and there were just three years where MVL didn’t have at least one state qualifier.

Timm said he enjoyed every sport he coached, but track and field stood the test of time for him due to the camaraderie.

“Track is different,” Timm said. “You’ve got kids that don’t argue about playing time, or parents don’t question playing time, because if you want to run the 200, well, then you’ve got to line up and show that you’ve earned that spot. I guess this is what’s a little bit different about track.

“Another thing about track is that a lot of the times the kids that are in track are there for a couple of different reasons. One is to continue to work on their fitness level and their athletic abilities for other sports, as well as for track. And so they’ve got a real desire to work hard for that purpose. … It seems weird, but track is probably the most team-oriented sport because everybody appreciates the abilities that their teammates have and they can see them. There’s competition for spots, don’t get me wrong, but they’re fairly easy to determine who deserves those spots.”

As much of a challenge the administrative part of coaching was for him in terms of scheduling and coordinating, Timm enjoyed his time at MVL and fondly remembers conversations he’s shared with students and athletes.

“Usually it’s just the the talks we’ve had with the kids or the talks I’ve had with the kids,” Timm said. “And just not even necessarily about track or anything like that. Usually, it’s some of the seniors at some of their last meets. Talking about their future goals and plans for the rest of their life and stuff like that.

“And that’s the type of stuff, the relationships that you build with the kids and the conversations you have with them. I just appreciate being around them and I think they are a wonderful blessing to MVL.”

With all the conversations and milestones shared with his students and athletes, Timm hopes he was a positive influence on them with his encouragement.

“I would hope that they would recognize that I was approachable and very encouraging of their their efforts,” he said. “Those would probably be the biggest things. Encouraging of them with their efforts and also with their general growth, using the talents that they’ve been given by God to his glory.”