WIZARD OF BROOKINGS? Bryan Petersen era begins at SDSU

BROOKINGS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Though the process of promoting Bryan Petersen to be the 23rd head coach in the history the South Dakota State men’s basketball program looked nearly identical to that of his predecessor, Petersen’s resume has several notable differences compared to Eric Henderson and TJ Otzelberger.

The first being that he got acquainted with SDSU earlier than any of them while playing at Iowa State.

Even if Bryan would rather not remember mention that!

“So South Dakota State sent me home with a loss for Christmas Break my senior year. I do remember how Coach (Scott) Nagy and how he ran his team. Looking back at it now you kind of understand why this place has continued to grow. It’s because there was a tremendous foundation.” Petersen says.

One which Bryan Petersen got to be a much happier part of over the last six seasons as an assistant to Eric Henderson, which is why he stayed in Brookings hoping for the opportunity to ascend to head coach when the time came for Henderson to move on.

“We love this place. We love the fanbase. We love the support. The administration is tremendous here so I never felt like there was an opportunity good enough for me to leave.” Bryan says.

And the feeling was mutual amongst players whom he’d helped developed during SDSU’s run of six Summit League titles and two NCAA Tournament berths.

“We think he’s a wizard when it comes to basketball. He eats, drinks and sleeps, he loves the game of basketball. Is up to date on the latest trends and whatever is going on. He just has a special way about him where he is able to connect with guys.” SDSU Senior Forward Matthew Mors says.

Though he follows Henderson and Otzelberger as a part of the Greg McDermott coaching tree, the 37-year old is unique in that he already has six years of head coaching experience at Kirkland Community College, winning 157 games and a pair of national titles, something that added appeal to athletic director Justin Sell.

“You know what are the priorities today? Where do I need to put my time? And I’ll figure out these other things as we go. And then experience here. He already knows the system, he knows people, he knows how we work and operate.” Sell says.

Also strengthening his credentials is the fact that Petersen is SDSU’s first Division One head coach to have played in Division One, starting all 64 games with the Cyclones from 2007 through 2009 after playing his first two years at Kirkland.

“He’s been around the right people and he definitely knows his stuff.” Mors says.

“Sustain success that we’ve had number one, obviously, but you know hopefully we can continue to elevate it from the standpoint of having a little bit more success in the NCAA Tournament.” Petersen says of his expectations. “Hopefully having a few more marquee wins. The foundation of our team will always still be high school kids, regional kids. But we will have to go into the portal and grab some players that we feel like will be a really good fit to South Dakota State.”

It’s all help equip Bryan to handle the modern game.

And it doesn’t hurt that he’s had to deal with some ribbing about his game every now and then!

“He’s a much better coach than he was a player!” Sell says as he watched video of Peterson playing against SDSU in 2008. “But hey, listen, the truth is when you’re playing the Jackrabbits it’s a tough deal!”

“His jumper is no lie! He has a winning record against all of us on the team so that jumper is real!” Mors says.

“I don’t move near as good as I used to but I can still shoot it pretty good!” Petersen says.

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