Dan Peterson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dan Peterson (born January 9, 1936) is an American former professional basketball head coach. He is currently employed as an analyst of NBA basketball for Sportitalia, an Italian satellite channel. He is nicknamed "The Coach" for his legacy in Italian basketball.

[edit] History

Peterson was born in Evanston, Illinois.

He attended Oakton Elementary School, Nichols Junior High School and Evanston Township High School (ETHS) -- all in Evanston, Illinois. He graduated from the undergraduate program in education at Northwestern University in 1958. In 1962 he received his M.A. in sports administration from the University of Michigan.^[1]

He served as assistant coach for NAIA school McKendree College from 1962 to 1963. From 1963 to 1965 he served as freshmen coach at Michigan State. The next year, at the age of 30, he became head coach at the University of Delaware. In five years at there, he assembled a record of 69 wins and 49 losses.

In 1971, he went abroad, acting as head coach of the Chilean national team until 1973. From 1973-1978, he coached Virtus Bologna in the Italian serie A1, winning the 1974 the "Coppa Italia" and the 1976 the Italian league title. In 1978 he was hired as head coach of Olimpia Milano where he won four Italian titles (1982, 1985, 1986, 1987), two "Coppa Italia" awards (1986, 1987), a Korac Cup (1985) and one Champions Cup, the highest title in Europe for basketball.^[2]

In 1987 he retired after coaching for 14 years in Italy. He still holds records for a coach in Italian playoffs with 11 Final Four appearances in 11 years (after which a playoff format was introduced), 9 finals, 4 titles, 74 games coached, and 51 games won. He received the Coach of the Year award for Europe from the WABC and the Coach of the Year for Italy twice. Following his retirement from coaching, he was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.

After his retirement he became a popular sports commentator for many Italian television channels. He's currently doing color commentary on the Italian channel Sportitalia.

In 2007, Peterson was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Evanston Township High School.^[3]

In 2008, he was named one of the 50 most influential European club basketball personalities over the last half-century.^[4]