Amber Peterson named head coach of Lakeland鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball team
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (BVM) — After seven years assistant coaching Lakeland University鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball team, Amber Peterson has been named head coach for the 2020-2021 season.
Peterson鈥檚 journey to head coach started with her role as a student assistant at Augusta State University 2012-2013.
鈥淭hat was a really good experience for me just because I hadn鈥檛 quite finished my undergrad degree, so I stayed at Augusta to wrap that up and then I had the opportunity to be a student assistant coach,鈥� Peterson said.
聽鈥淚 really enjoyed working with that head coach and then the assistant coach that also worked with him,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淚 just learned a lot from those two and that鈥檚 when I was like, 鈥極h, maybe this coaching thing is for me.鈥欌��
Lindsey Vande Hoff, Peterson鈥檚 former assistant coach at Iowa Western Community College was the head coach at Lakeland when she found out Peterson鈥檚 new passion.
聽鈥淲hen she found out I was looking to get into coaching, she reached out, we connected and just talked about the possibility of me coming up to Lakeland to be her GA (graduate assistant),鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淚 came up here for a visit in July of 2013 and I pretty much knew, even before then, I was going to come here, so I moved here in the beginning of August of 2013 and got going.鈥�
Peterson served as a graduate assistant for two years and then as the Muskies鈥� lead assistant for five years.聽
Over the previous seven years, she has seen a total of 102 wins, was part of the team that advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2016-2017 and coached 13 all-NACC players.
Before taking on the head coaching position with the basketball team, Peterson took on the role of Lakeland鈥檚 women鈥檚 golf head coach in 2016.
鈥淲hen I took over the full-time basketball assistant position, the golf position also opened up. It was just a really good fit, and both opened at the same time,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淭he seasons weren鈥檛 at the same time, so I just decided to go ahead with it.鈥�
Peterson grew up playing 鈥渆very sport you can possibly think of鈥�; She played soccer, softball, volleyball, football, track, and of course, basketball and golf.
鈥淚 grew up playing golf. I grew up on the golf course. My whole family was really into golf, so I had a lot of background knowledge, but at the same time I didn鈥檛 play in high school and I didn鈥檛 play in college,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淚 think it really helped that I did have that background knowledge,鈥�
Peterson worked closely with the previous golf coach at the beginning. He helped her see how he did things and she was able to learn from him.
鈥淎ll of those things helped me take over that program. I did a lot of learning and the players were really gracious as I learned,鈥� Peterson said.
In Peterson鈥檚 first four years, she has led her teams to four consecutive top-three finishes in the NACC Championships, as well as, a best-ever second-place finish in the 2018 NACC Championships.
Like golf, Peterson had her own basketball career to look back on that helped her prepare for the basketball head coaching position.
聽In her two years playing at Iowa Western Community College, Peterson finished fourth nationally in NJCAA Division I in assets and was named first-team all-region. She then transferred to Southwest Minnesota State University for a year, where she averaged 6.5 points and led her team with four assists per game. Peterson transferred her senior year to the NCAA Division II school, Augusta State, in 2011. She averaged 7.3 points per game, made 51 three pointers, and led the Peach Belt Conference by making 43.2% of her three-point attempts.
Once she was done with her playing career and moving on to her coaching, she wanted to take her time.
鈥淚 was kind of rare in that I really wanted to take my time as an assistant just to get a really solid foundation before I became a head coach to a bigger program like the basketball team,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淢y time as an assistant allowed me to learn all the nuances of the different aspects of leading a program…I got to have a really active role.鈥�
Peterson received an offer for a head coaching job somewhere else over a year ago but turned the opportunity down.
聽鈥淚 still didn鈥檛 feel personally quite ready, so I wanted to take another year just to really feel more confident,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淚 turned that opportunity down and then really gained a lot more experience this past year and, I think, that was really beneficial for me just mentally and emotionally being ready to take on that new role.鈥�
Some of the lessons Peterson has learned is the importance of good balance and prioritizing what is important.
鈥淢ore than anything, I鈥檝e learned the value of keeping the student athlete first and the importance of showing them how much you care about them as people,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淚 feel like that just improves everything from a team chemistry to player coach relationships… it makes them want to work harder for you.鈥�
One last lesson she learned from her time as an assistant coach was the importance of confidence.
鈥淚鈥檝e really learned the importance of confidence in your abilities,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淚鈥檓 much more confident鈥� The reason that I鈥檓 so much more confident now is that I put in the work to really become knowledgeable in my field, in my craft, with dealing with people and things like that. The more work you put in, the more preparation you have, the more confident you become, and then good things really start happening once you can find that.鈥�
Peterson has a few memories that really stand out from her time at Lakeland. One memory is when junior, Ali Wilson, won the NACC golf tournament in 2019 as an individual. This was the first time in Lakeland鈥檚 golf program history.
鈥淚 think Ali Wilson winning the NACC conference tournament, as an individual, was so, so cool… It came down to the last putt,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淚t was so cool to see the way her team was rooting for her and rallying around her. You love to see those types of people rewarded, so from me as a coach, that was really cool to see.鈥�
A memory from basketball is when the Muskies made the national tournament in 2017.
鈥淭hat was super rewarding, and there is, again, another example of a team overcoming adversity and really just getting better every year, every game,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so fun, again, to see those student athletes rewarded for that work.鈥�
Peterson has many fond memories from the past besides these big moments.
鈥淭hose are obvious ones, I feel like, because you are talking about championships, but there are so many small moments within those years that were so special,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淭hose only scratch the surface for all the cool moments that we鈥檝e seen.鈥�
Peterson shared a memory from her high school career, too.聽
鈥淚n my own career there was a lot of really cool moments. It sounds weird, but I still think back to my softball career because we won state 4 years in a row in high school,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淭hat team was just really special in a lot of ways. The coaching staff did a great job with us, and there is nothing like winning.鈥�
Hoping to make more memories, Peterson has some academic and athletic goals for the golf and basketball team this year.
鈥淔or our teams, we have the goal that both our teams maintain a 3.4 gpa,鈥� Peterson said.
Peterson鈥檚 goal specifically for the basketball team is changing the culture.
鈥淔or basketball, we are really stressing the importance of improving each day and creating a culture of winning and a culture of competition and a culture of toughness, but also a culture of just playing the game, playing with freedom and not playing stiff or in fear,鈥� Peterson said.
Peterson admits it is hard to create goals because of the uncertainties.
鈥淥bviously we have goals for what we want to do in the NACC for both golf and basketball as far as like winning and things like that, but there is just so much up in the air with the whole COVID situation,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just really hoping right now that we have a season in the spring for golf and then a season for basketball starting in January.鈥�
Practice has now started for the basketball team which is keeping Peterson very busy.聽
She had some last words of advice to share for anybody thinking about going into coaching or any career.
鈥淚 would just say that I think networking is huge… how I got my job is through networking 鈥� It really starts with networking, but networking has to be genuine,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淭hen once you have opportunities, give it everything you got because people will see the good that you do, and you鈥檒l be rewarded for that. Be an expert at your roll.鈥�
