John E. Peterson (born September 25, 1948) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

executive and former coach. He was the sixth head football coach at

Frostburg State University Frostburg State University (FSU) is a public university in Frostburg, Maryland. The university is the only four-year institution of the University System of Maryland west of the Baltimore-Washington passageway in the state's Appalachian highlan ...

Frostburg, Maryland Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and is at the head of the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located west of Cumberland, the town is one of the first cities ...

, serving for four seasons, from 1977 to 1981, and compiling a record of 14–25. Peterson later served as head coach at Bemidji State University in

Bemidji, Minnesota Bemidji ( ) is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 15,279, making i ...

for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989, compiling a record of 30–40–3. After 18 years in college football, Peterson has spent 39 years in scouting and personnel in professional football: in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL),

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally ...

(WLAF),

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), the Alliance of American Football (AAF), the

XFL (2020) The XFL is a professional American football minor league consisting of eight teams located across the United States in mid-sized to major markets served by at least one other major professional sports team. Seasons run from February to April, ...

The Spring League The Spring League was an American football developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's go ...

(TSL), and is now working as the Director of Player Personnel for the

United States Football League (2022) The United States Football League (USFL) is a professional American football minor league that began play on April 16, 2022. The inaugural 2022 regular season was played in its entirety in Birmingham, Alabama. The postseason games were played ...

(USFL).

Head coaching record

References

1948 births Living people BC Lions personnel Bemidji State Beavers football coaches Carolina Panthers scouts Frostburg State Bobcats football coaches Holy Cross Crusaders football coaches NFL Europe executives Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches Ottawa Rough Riders personnel Seattle Seahawks scouts Toronto Argonauts personnel Westminster Parsons football coaches High school football coaches in Indiana Eastern Michigan University alumni Michigan State University alumni University of Utah alumni Sportspeople from Ann Arbor, Michigan {{1970s-collegefootball-coach-stub