C.J. Thieleke was the top assistant coach with the Mallards for two summers before being named head coach during the 2005 season.  Under Coach Thieleke’s guidance, the Mallards have gone 189-149 over the past four seasons. He is currently the fourth-winningest manager of all-time during the regular season in the Northwoods League. His teams have made the playoffs three times during that stretch. In 2008 the team reached the Northwoods League Championship Series, falling short of a championship by just one run in game three of the series.

Thieleke has been a Madison College assistant baseball coach since the 2005 season.  Thieleke was born in Madison, WI and grew up in Iowa City, IA. At Iowa City High School, he was a four-sport standout athlete. He received first team all-state baseball honors in his junior and senior seasons while batting an impressive .470. In his senior season, he was named Iowa’s high school baseball player-of-the-year. After graduating high school in 1993, Thieleke received a baseball scholarship to attend the University of Iowa. In 1994, he was named Big Ten freshman-of-the-year and played second base for the Hawkeyes from 1994-96. In 1996, Thieleke was drafted in the 32nd round of the Major League amateur draft by the Minnesota Twins and played in the organization for two years. In 1998, Thieleke graduated from the University of Iowa with a Sports Management degree. Since then, he has served as assistant coach at Mount Mercy College, volunteer assistant with the University of Iowa, and assistant coach at Madison Area Technical College.