Everyone likes a challenge. To climb the tallest mountain. To run the fastest mile. To achieve the best grades. You get the point.
Mike Petersen enjoys a challenge just like everyone else. He just happens to enjoy building things from the ground up. Taking something with unlimited potential and placing his own stamp on it and watching it blossom into something special.
Entering his first year as the head coach of the TCU Lady Frogs, Petersen knows that this is a project that can be done with some work and a little time.
"I wouldn't have come to TCU if I wasn't convinced that we could win," Petersen said. "I have been fortunate enough to have had a degree of success in the past, so that TCU felt confident in me and I in them."
Petersen's career is loaded with taking something that needed a little attention and turning it around. Now, he wants to make TCU another program that he turns around. And no one has higher expectations than Petersen.
He recently completed three straight 20-win seasons at New Mexico State University, where he compiled a record of 81-38 (.681). That's an impressive feat in that attracting student-athletes to the desert area of Las Cruces, New Mexico is a challenge that many coaches shy away from.
In his first season, Petersen led a team with that was predicted to finish at the bottom of the Big West to a 17-11 record. Impressive in that the team finished 16-15 the previous season and returned no starters.
His next season, Petersen took the Roadrunners to a 24-8 record, the school's best Big West finish in second place and a trip to the women's National Invitational Tournament.
The following year ('94-'95) saw the Roadrunners capture their first-ever Big West title and coach Petersen earn a career milestone. On February 17, 1994, Petersen earned his 100th career win as the Roadrunners won at Pacific, 63-53.
During his four-year tenure at NMSU, the Roadrunner's were known for their full-court defense and tenacious rebounding. Last season, the Roadrunners led the Big West in rebounding, rebound margin, finished second in scoring defense and third in scoring margin as well as three-point defense.
"Mike has his athletes play beyond their talent level and that's why he will never have a bad team," former UNLV women's basketball coach Jim Bolla said.
While not a singularly offensive-minded coach, Petersen has had a knack for finding scorers. In his five coaching stops, Petersen has coached each school's career scoring leader.
Several years before resurrecting the Roadrunners, Petersen himself was a standout collegiate player. He began his college career at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, Calif. He played there for two seasons before he transferred to Northwest Christian College, an NAIA school in Eugene, Ore.
As a junior in 1978, Petersen became a dominant player for the Crusaders, leading them to a 22-7 record and to the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Conference title.
The next season saw Petersen overpower his opponents, averaging 28.9 points, 11.1 rebounds and 8.0 assists with an astonishing .740 field goal percentage. That year, the team went 19-10 with Petersen being named to the Little all-America team. He finished as the school's alltime leading scorer after only two seasons.
"I was a decent player in a great situation," Petersen says modestly.
Petersen remained as an assistant coach for the Crusaders while he completed his undergraduate work in biblical studies which he earned his degree in 1983.
After two and a half seasons at Northwest, he moved over to the University of Oregon in the middle of the 1983 season. During his tenure at Oregon, the Ducks won the NorPac title and earned an NCAA tournament berth in 1984. After that point, Petersen elected to venture out on his own.
Petersen then ventured out on his own for the first time as the head coach for Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
In his first season (1985-86), the Bulldogs went 21-10 in their final NAIA year and missed the national tournament by only one game. The next year, the program's first at the NCAA Division I level, Petersen had his only losing season ever as head coach when the GU finished 11-16. Those feelings of despair quickly vanished when the Bulldogs, who had since joined the West Coast Athletic Conference, shocked everyone by winning the conference title in their inaugural season. Gonzaga went on to finish second in the West Coast Athletic Conference the next season as Petersen left the program for a new experience and another challenge.
He found one at the University of Oregon, only this time he was an assistant men's coach under head coach Don Monson.
Mike Petersen - Year-By-Year
Asst. Men's Coach, Northwest Christian College
1980-81 9-14 Replaced all-time scorer
1981-82 19-8 Reached Regional Final
1982-83 22-6 National Champs
Asst. Women's Coach, University of Oregon
1983-84 23-7 NCAA Tourney berth
1984-85 14-14 Replaced all-time scorer
Head Women's Coach,
Gonzaga University
1985-86 21-10 1st year as head coach
1986-87 11-16 1st year in NCAA
1987-88 18-9 WCAC Champs
1988-89 15-13 2nd in WCAC
Record at Gonzaga: 65-48 (.575)
Asst. Men's Coach, University of Oregon
1989-90 15-14 NIT appearance
1990-91 13-15 Coached NBA All-Star Terrell Brandon
1991-92 6-21 Lose 3 starters to injury at start of year
Head Women's Coach, New Mexico State University
1992-93 17-11 Best ever Big West finish
1993-94 24-8 NIT appearance
1994-95 20-9 Big West Champs
1995-96 20-10 3rd place BigWest finish
Record at New Mexico State. 81-38 (.681)
Career Head Coaching Record: 146-86 (.629, 8 seasons)