The 2006-07 season was Jessica Pelzel’s first season as head women’s basketball coach at Madison Area Technical College, and will be entering her second as head coach in 2007-08. In her first season at the helm, the team won the Wisconsin Technical College Conference (WTCC) title and finished with an overall record of 13-12.
Pelzel has brought a variety of coaching and playing experiences to the program. She has spent the last two years as an assistant coach at the College of St. Benedict (St. Joseph, MN). In her two years there, the Blazers compiled an overall record of 45-11, winning the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) title during the 2005-06 season, and reaching the sweet sixteen of the NCAA Division III National Tournament during the 2004-05 season.
Prior to coaching, Pelzel was a four-year member of the women’s basketball team at NCAA Division II Southwest Minnesota State University (Marshall, MN), where she was a three-time team captain and defensive player-of-the-year her senior season. She is also a current member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) and has coached many Minnesota AAU teams over the past 10 years.
Before MATC, Pelzel was a full-time instructor in the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sport Science (HPERSS) at St. Cloud State University, where she earned her master’s of science degree. Before that, Pelzel held a graduate assistant position with the St. Cloud State Univeristy Women’s Basketball team for one year, and was a two-year graduate teaching assistant in the HPERSS department. Pelzel currently serves as a full-time physical education instructor, in addition to her coaching duties, at MATC.
