Hayden Audette, contributor

Sports teams around the country have many people who work behind the scenes to fill much needed roles outside of those who play in the games. For Augsburg Mens Basketball, one of these essential members operating off the court is senior assistant coach Carson Huelle.

After spending last season on the team as a player, Huelle made the decision to switch to a different role. His decision to become a coach was not too difficult to make. “I came to Augsburg after transferring from Doane University and then played for a year, then decided to transition to coaching this year,” he told the Echo. “I saw we had a really solid team and it made sense.” 

Huelle has spent this season learning from head coach Aaron Griess, and he says that the instruction he has received has been valuable for his own future coaching career, for more than just basketball. “I think [Griess] is one of the best Xs and Os coaches in the MIAC, but off the court, he’s taught me a lot of life lessons that I can apply in my coaching,” he said. Huelle’s father, Rusty Huelle, was a coach at the University of Minnesota-Morris, which has given Carson inspiration to follow his footsteps into the world of coaching. 

Aside from his role as an assistant coach, Huelle also serves as the team’s social media manager. His experience with social media began well before this season, as he runs two popular Instagram accounts. One of these is a fan page for the Denver Nuggets (@nuggetsfansonly) with over 11,000 followers, and the other is a page dedicated to film and TV (@latefeecinema) that has over 7,000 followers. 

“I presented the past skills I have acquired to both Coach Griess and Coach Scott,” said Huelle. “They were incredibly supportive and had me send them all of my ideas I have for the program.” During every Auggie Mens basketball game, Huelle is on the bench recording the action. When a big play occurs, he saves it and posts as quickly as he can so he can upload it to the team’s Instagram story. It is essentially a real-time highlight video, allowing fans to watch the key moments of each game from an angle that only Auggie players and coaching staff can see. 

It is an exciting time of year for Augsburg Mens Basketball. With the MIAC regular season wrapping up and the conference playoff tournament starting, the Auggies have a real shot of playing their way into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. No one knows yet how the playoffs are going to turn out but there is one thing that we do know for certain. No matter how the games end up, Carson Huelle will be there recording all the big plays. 

Examples of the social media work that Huelle does can be found on Instagram @augsburgbasketball.