Mike Petersen (born April 18, 1958) is a former head coach for the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real e ...

in 2021. Before joining the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

, Petersen worked as a head coach and assistant coach for American university basketball teams from the 1980s to 2010s. Petersen mainly worked in women's basketball as head coach of the Gonzaga,

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

, TCU, Wake Forest and

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

. With these teams, New Mexico State finished in sixth at the 1994 National Women's Invitational Tournament and enteredt the first round of the 1995 Women's National Invitation Tournament preseason event. Petersen also made it to the third round of the 2005 Women's National Invitation Tournament with Wake Forest. In university men's basketball, Petersen was an assistant coach for Northwest Christian College,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. During the late 2010s, Petersen was a part of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

as a scout for the New Orleans Pelicans. Petersen moved to the WNBA in 2017 when he became an assistant coach for the Atlanta Dream. After being selected as interim head coach in May 2021 for the Dream, Petersen ended his position in July 2021 due to his personal health. Following his 6 wins and 13 losses, Petersen was retained with the Dream as an advisor.

Early life and education

Petersen was born in

Eureka, California Eureka (Wiyot: ''Jaroujiji'', Hupa: ''do'-wi-lotl-ding'', Karuk: ''uuth'') is the principal city and county seat of Humboldt County in the Redwood Empire region of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Ba ...

on April 18, 1958. While attending high school, Petersen was on the baseball and basketball teams. From 1976 to 1980, Petersen played basketball for two years at

College of the Redwoods College of the Redwoods (CR) is a public community college with its main campus in Eureka, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and serves three counties and has two branch campuses, as well as three additional sit ...

before playing an additional two years at Northwest Christian College. At Redwoods, Petersen was the team's captain for a season before he left for Northwest Christian. During his playing career at Northwest Christian, Petersen held the points per game season record in 1980 and was named the Most Valuable Player for the college that year. Petersen remained at Northwest Christian until he completed his biblical studies program in 1983.

Career

While at Northwest Christian, Petersen was an assistant coach for their men's basketball team from 1980 to 1983. After leaving the college during the 1983-84 season, Petersen worked for the

Oregon Ducks women's basketball The Oregon Ducks women's basketball team is the official women's basketball team of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. Basketball is one of 11 varsity women's sports at the University of Oregon. The team is a member of the Pac-12 Conferen ...

team as an assistant coach from 1983 to 1985. As the head coach of the

Gonzaga Bulldogs women's basketball The Gonzaga Bulldogs women's basketball is the college basketball program representing Gonzaga University. The school competes in the West Coast Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Bulldogs play ...

from 1985 to 1989, Petersen's team first played in the NAIA. After moving to the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

in 1987, Petersen and Gonzaga was first in the 1988

West Coast Athletic Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

. After ending his tenure with Gonzaga in 1989, Petersen had 65 wins and 48 losses. After Petersen left Gonzaga in order to become an assistant coach for the men's basketball team at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

, he was chosen as an assistant coach with Oregon in June 1989. From 1989 to 1992, Petersen was an assistant coach on the

Oregon Ducks men's basketball The Oregon Ducks men's basketball team is an intercollegiate basketball program that competes in the NCAA Division I and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference, representing the University of Oregon. The Ducks play their home games at Matthew Kni ...

team. A month after joining the New Mexico State Roadrunners women's basketball team as an assistant coach, Petersen became their head coach in September 1992 after Doug Hosleton resigned. At New Mexico State, Petersen and his team finished in sixth at the 1994

National Women's Invitational Tournament The National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT) was a post-season tournament for women's intercollegiate basketball programs that was contested from 1969 to 1996. The original sponsorship information appears to have been lost over the ensuin ...

. As a Women's National Invitation Tournament competitor, Petersen and New Mexico State reached the first round of the 1995 preseason event. Following his last year in 1996, Petersen had 81 wins and 38 losses with New Mexico State. With the

TCU Horned Frogs women's basketball The TCU Horned Frogs women's basketball team represents Texas Christian University in women's basketball. The school competes in the Big 12 Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Horned Frogs play hom ...

team from 1996 to 1999, Petersen had 42 wins and 41 losses as their head coach. In 1999, Petersen joined the

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represents the University of Minnesota in NCAA Division I college basketball competition. The Golden Gophers competes in the Big Ten Conference and play their home games at the Williams Arena. ...

team as an assistant coach. After becoming an associate head coach for the team in 2000, Petersen remained with Minnesota until 2004. From 2004 to 2012, Petersen was head coach of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's basketball team. With Wake Forest, Petersen had 125 wins and 123 losses. During their multiple appearances at the Women's National Invitation Tournament, Petersen and Wake Forest reached the third round of the 2005 Women's National Invitation Tournament. In April 2012, Petersen replaced

Karen Aston Karen Sue Aston (born July 26, 1964 in Benton, Arkansas) is an American basketball player and coach. She is currently the head coach of the UTSA Roadrunners women's basketball team. She has served as the head women's basketball coach at Texas, Cha ...

as the head coach of the

North Texas Mean Green women's basketball The North Texas Mean Green women's basketball team represents the University of North Texas (UNT) in NCAA Division I college basketball, competing as a member of Conference USA. Since their 1976 inception, the team has played its home games at th ...

team. Petersen had 28 wins and 61 losses with North Texas when his position ended in 2015. During the late 2010s, Petersen was a

scout as part of the New Orleans Pelicans before joining the

in 2017. With the

team, Petersen started out as an assistant coach before he was named the Dream's interim head coach in May 2021. During the

2021 WNBA season The 2021 WNBA season was the 25th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Seattle Storm were the defending champions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams played a 32-game season (rather than the 36 games agreed to in the ...

, Petersen had 6 wins and 13 losses before ending his coaching position in July 2021 due to his personal health. After being replaced by Darius Taylor, it was announced that Petersen would remain with the Dream as an advisor.

Head coaching record

WNBA

, - , align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, align="left" , , 19 , , 6 , , 13 , , , , (resigned) , , — , , — , , — , , — , , —

College

Honors and personal life

Petersen became part of a hall of fame for Northwest Christian College in 2007. He is married and has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Mike 1958 births Living people Oregon Ducks women's basketball coaches Gonzaga Bulldogs women's basketball coaches Oregon Ducks men's basketball coaches New Mexico State Aggies women's basketball coaches TCU Horned Frogs women's basketball coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's basketball coaches North Texas Mean Green women's basketball coaches New Orleans Pelicans personnel Atlanta Dream coaches