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Hauge named new boys’ basketball coach at NUHS

NEW ULM — Former New Ulm High School basketball player Matt Hauge has been named the interim boys’ head basketball coach at New Ulm High School.

He replaces Steve Foley who resigned after last year.

Hauge, who has coached in the New Ulm High School basketball system for the past 17 years at various levels and was the b-squad coach last year, said that he is excited for the opportunity.

“It is nice to have the opportunity to be the head coach,” Hauge said. “I look forward to taking it over.”

Hauge played for the Eagles from 1993-95. He said that coming in as head coach, he does have some things he wants to keep in place.

“The last couple of coaches have put a lot of good things in place, so I will probably do a lot of the same things and kind of build off of that,” he said.

One of the things that Hauge wants to bring to the program is coaching stability. Hauge is the third head boys’ basketball coach for the Eagles in the last three years.

“I have coached for 17 years, and I have probably went through between five to seven different head coaches in that time,” he said. “That is one of the reasons that I took the job. The current seniors have had three coaches in the last three years, so I wanted to keep a face around that is familiar to them and have some continuity.”

One of the aspects of not having a head basketball coach in place in the off-season was that none of the current players had a summer workout schedule.

“We are going to really have to stress fundamentals to start with,” he said. “Some of the players have been doing some camps and some summer league, so a lot of our returning players have played somewhat in the summer.”

Hauge does want to change one important aspect of the basketball program in New Ulm.

“I need to change the culture of succeeding,” he said. “We need to be competitive and that is especially true for the younger kids coming to the games and watching New Ulm being competitive. I want to build the program and have the kids be excited about basketball at New Ulm High School.”

Hauge, who lives in New Ulm and is General Manager and head PGA Golf Pro at the Waseca Country Club, said that being an off-staff head coach will be a challenge for him.

“My job is pretty demanding in the summer, but the winter is my offseason, but it is still demanding,” he said. “It will be a challenge not being part of the teaching staff.”

New Ulm High School Activities Director Troy Guentzel said that Hauge, who has been the b-squad basketball coach for three years, brings familiarity to the program, especially with this group of seniors.

“His son [Noah] is a senior and he has been coaching these boys throughout most of their careers,” Guentzel said. “He knows the history of the program as a New Ulm graduate and he has a lot of pride in the program. That pride goes a long way.”

Guentzel said that Jeremy Bolduan will be the c-squad coach and Mitch Stevens will be the JV coach.

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