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University of Minnesota Duluth head coach Matt Bowen has announced the addition of former Bulldog men’s basketball player and UMD graduate Matt Hockett as his lead assistant beginning this week.
“After reviewing a very strong pool of national candidates, it became clear Matt Hockett is the person that would be the ideal assistant basketball coach for UMD,” said Coach Bowen. ” Matt is someone I met early upon my arrival to UMD in 2012. In observing Matt coach, it was evident he has great energy and enthusiasm for young people and the game of basketball.”
Hockett comes to Duluth with a wealth of coaching experience at a variety of levels, spending the last six seasons as the head varsity boys basketball coach at Stoughton High School in Wisconsin. The Vikings won four-straight Badger Conference championships and earning the school’s first trip to the state tournament since 1939 in 2013. He also served as a physical education teacher, most recently at Stoughton H.S.
“When I initially resigned from my high school coaching position, I sat down with my family [and decided] the only way I’d be able to get back into coaching would be the perfect position,” said Hockett. When the UMD position opened, his wife, Ann Hockett, “said it doesn’t get more perfect than that.”
Hockett spent five years on the Bulldogs, serving as the team captain during his senior season. Also that year, he earned the 2006-07 North Central Conference Honor Athlete Award as well as UMD’s E.L. “Duce” Rasmussen Scholar Athlete Award. He was twice voted the team’s most improved player and spent five years as a member of the Bulldogs Student Athlete Advisory Committee. In 2005, he was UMD’s representative at the NCAA Leadership Academy in Boston, Massachusettes.
Following his Bulldog playing career, Hockett participated in a two-month professional mission trip for Athletes in Action, spending time in Beijing, China. “Everything I’ve done since graduating from UMD has been a byproduct of what I learned there,” said Hockett. “I’m very excited to come back to a place I call home. Coach Bowen’s team has improved every year since he’s been there, and I hope to contribute in a small way as we build on the great tradition of UMD men’s basketball.”
Hockett earned a bachelor of applied science from UMD, majoring in physical and health education. Along the way, he has coached boys and girls tennis, football, and strength & conditioning in addition to basketball. Matt and Ann have one son, Braxton, born earlier this year.
“Matt’s passion for the Bulldogs is unrivaled,” added Bowen. “I am confident his passion for UMD and our basketball program will enhance our current path to be champions in the classroom, in competition and in the community.”
http://umdbulldogs.com/news/2015/8/21/MBB_0821155503.aspx?path=mbball
