Mike Petersen To Lead Wake Forest Women's Basketball Program
4/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
April 2, 2004
Mike
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest University Director of Athletics Ron Wellman announced today that Mike Petersen, an essential figure in the University of Minnesota men's program the past five years, has been named head women's basketball coach.
"Mike has the background we desired when we started our search," said Wellman. "He previously built women's basketball programs at Gonzaga, New Mexico State and TCU from the ground up and all three went on to compete at a championship caliber. Obviously, that is where we want this program to compete."
"He has the knowledge and experience of coaching at a private school with a strong academic environment and has done a superb job. He not only won on the court, but also did an exceptional job graduating his student-athletes. I am confident that Mike will lead our program to the heights that we all desire."
Petersen arrives in Winston-Salem after five years with the Golden Gopher men's basketball program -- serving as associate head coach the past four years under Don Monson. Petersen was involved in every aspect of the Minnesota program, but was primarily involved with individual player development, scheduling, offensive play-calling, opponent scouting and game-planning. He directed an offense that led the Big 10 in scoring and field goal percentage in 2001-02 and was second in scoring offense in 2002-03. Petersen also worked extensively with future NBA lottery pick Joel Przybilla -- who improved his scoring from 6.5 ppg as a freshman to 17.2 ppg as a sophomore.
"I am so excited about the opportunity to be the next head women's basketball coach at Wake Forest University," said Petersen. "We have absolutely everything in place to build an outstanding women's basketball program. The people on campus are committed to excellence in every single area. All the pieces you need to have in order to build a really strong, top notch, women's basketball program are available."
Petersen joined the Golden Gophers in 1999 after serving three seasons as head coach of the TCU women's basketball program from 1996-99. Inheriting a program that went 3-52 in the two years prior to his arrival, Petersen guided the Horned Frogs to the program's first ever winning season, first ever conference tournament victory and a then school record 16 wins in 1999. In his first full season with the Horned Frogs, he landed a recruiting class ranked in the top 25 by the Blue Star Report. Peterson was also instrumental as TCU raised its average attendance from 250 to 1,880 -- an increase of more than 750-percent.
Prior to taking over at TCU, Petersen was the women's head coach at New Mexico State University from 1992-96. Similar to TCU, he inherited a program that went 30-32 the previous two seasons and did not return a single starter for the 1992-93 season. In his four seasons with the Aggies, Petersen recorded three consecutive 20-win seasons and compiled an 81-38 (.681) overall record and a 53-19 (.736) record in Big West Conference games. Petersen, who led the Aggies to their first ever Big West Conference title in 1995, was responsible for the development of 1995-96 All-American and current WNBA player, Anita Maxwell. Not only did he sign a top 25 recruiting class, but also helped the Aggies lead the Big West Conference in attendance all four years.
Petersen spent three years as an assistant coach with the men's program at the University of Oregon prior to his stint at New Mexico State. While with the Ducks, Petersen coached former Minnesota Timberwolves' guard Terrell Brandon, making him the first college basketball coach to have coached both an NBA player and WNBA player.
In 1985, Petersen accepted the head women's coaching position at Gonzaga University. During his first season, Petersen led the Zags to a 21-10 record and missed the NAIA National Tournament by a single game. After a 11-16 record in their transition year into NCAA Division I athletics, Gonzaga shocked the experts by winning the West Coast Athletic Conference title in its inaugural season in the conference -- only their second year at the NCAA Division I level.
Before moving into the coaching ranks, Petersen enjoyed a stellar college playing career. He began at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, Calif. After two seasons, he transferred to Northwest Christian College, an NAIA school in Eugene, Ore.
In his junior year, Petersen helped the Crusaders to a 22-7 record and the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Conference title. His senior year, he blossomed, averaging 28.9 points, 11.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists with a remarkable .740 field goal percentage. The Crusaders went 19-10 that year, with Petersen being named to the Little All-America team. He finished his career among the top 10 all-time leading scorers in school history in just two full seasons.
Petersen stayed on as an assistant men's coach at Northwest Christian while he completed his undergraduate work in Biblical studies. After more than two and a half years with the NCC program, Petersen left for Oregon in the middle of the 1983 season to become an assistant coach for the women's team. During his season and a half, the Ducks won the NorPac title and earned an NCAA tournament berth in 1984.
Petersen, 45, and his wife of 25 years, Patty, have two sons, Riley (15), and Jake (11). He graduated from Northwest Christian College in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in Biblical studies.
Petersen, who is the ninth head coach in Wake Forest women's basketball history, replaces Charlene Curtis, whose contract was not renewed last month following her seventh season with the Demon Deacons.
Wake Forest returns 10 letterwinners -- including five players who started 10 or more games last season -- from a team that went 12-17 overall and 4-12 in the ACC. Three returning players -- rising junior Liz Strunk (13.3 points per game), senior Erin Ferrell (11.0 ppg.) and junior Cotelia Bond-Young (10.4 ppg.) -- averaged at least 10.0 points per contest. Strunk was a second team All-ACC selection -- the first Demon Deacon to reach second team status since Tracy Connor was awarded All-ACC first team in 1996.
Also returning in 2004-05 are seniors Meredith Bell (2.3 ppg.) and Jennifer Johnson (2.1 ppg.), along with junior Keila Evans (2.8 ppg.) and sophomores Porsche' Jones (4.7 ppg.), Maya Bennett (0.6 ppg.), Melissa Washington (2.5 ppg.) and Sandi James (0.6 ppg.). Wake Forest has received letters of intent from 6-2 guard/forward Christen Brown and 5-6 guard Tara Tate.
