NEW ULM — Michael Poncelet is the new head boys basketball coach at New Ulm High School.

Poncelet replaces Matthew Dennis, who resigned after last season.

Poncelet, who is currently a Due Process Coordinator working in an Administrative role in Special Education for a Charter School in St. Paul.

He said prior to that he was a Special Education teacher for 15 years.

Poncelet said that he and his family, wife Shawna and sons Marquise, who will be an 11th-grader and Vincent, a sixth-grader, will be moving to New Um.

Poncelet has been coaching high school, college and club basketball for the last 17 years.

“I started off as an assistant in the Mounds View district and I also had an assistant job at Centennial High School before getting the head boys basketball coach at Staples-Motley and I was the head coach there for five seasons.”

Poncelet won the Mid-State Coach of the Year in 2016.

Poncelet then was an assistant women’s head coach at Macalester College from 2018-19 and then at for the Bemidji women’s program as an assistant head coach.

“That was during the COVID years so the NCAA got shutdown so at that point I decided to take a break from college and focus on coaching my two sons in traveling basketball,” he said. “But then I got a teaching job at North Lakes Academy — my friend who was the Athletic Director there needed someone to coach and have been there for the last four years. And now I am looking forward to coaching some high-level competitive basketball.”

Poncelet said that he saw two things that made him interested in the New Ulm job.

“One, there is a great foundation there,” he said. “There is not a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done. What needs to be done is to take the next step to beat any of the Mankato schools.

“But also looking at my family — New Ulm has a great reputation for academics and my two sons are high academic-type kids and we want them to be part of a school district that really strives for that excellence in education, too.”

Poncelet thinks that the incoming team has a good offensive identity.

“What we need to do in this upcoming year is to really put a focus on defense — I am a big believer in limiting touches and points in the paint,” he said. “A lot of teams have moved in the direction of where the 3-point shot is almighty.

“If you want to play high-level championship basketball, it is about defending the paint and make the teams shoot if from the outside and keeping them from getting to the free-throw line because if you are jacking up 3-point shots you are not getting to the free-throw line.”

Poncelet said that he plans on being in New Ulm next week as the summer basketball programs start.

“I am really a believer in strength training so I want to make sure that the players are getting in the weight room at least three days a week over the summer,” he said.

He said that his job allows him flexibility to be in-office and also work remotely.