Mar. 29—BROOKINGS — TJ Otzelberger. Eric Henderson. Bryan Petersen.
Ever since Scott Nagy stepped down as head coach of South Dakota State in 2016, Jackrabbit athletic director Justin Sell has turned to branches on Greg McDermott's coaching tree to keep SDSU near the top of the Summit League.
Otzelberger and Henderson were successful. Petersen is up next.
The Jacks announced on Saturday that Petersen will be the school's 23rd men's basketball coach, and fourth since the transition to Division I. He replaces Henderson, who on Friday accepted the job at Drake.
Otzleberger went from SDSU to UNLV to Iowa State, where he's now one of the top coaches in the country. Henderson takes over a Drake program that has sent its last three coaches on to the Big Ten.
It's no wonder that Sell trusts McDermott's disciples, as the current Creighton coach (whom Sell worked with when both men were at Northern Iowa) clearly produces winning coaches.
"Bryan has stood out to me since he joined our athletic department," Sell said in a statement released by the school. "The relationships he has built with the student-athletes he works with is evident. He's done a remarkable job not only recruiting current and future Jackrabbits to South Dakota State, but also developing them to the point of creating a long-standing championship culture. We believe Bryan is ready to take this step and serve as the leader of our men's basketball program."
Petersen, like Henderson, played for McDermott. After two seasons of junior college at Kirkwood Community College he transferred to Iowa state and spent two years as a starting point guard for the Cyclones. He then joined the Iowa State staff as an assistant before becoming the head coach at Kirkwood, where he went 157-38 in six seasons while winning a pair of NJCAA national championships.
He's been on SDSU's staff for the last six seasons where he focused on coaching the team's guards and devising defensive gameplans. The Jacks went 129-60 during the six seasons Petersen worked under Henderson, with four regular conference titles and two NCAA tournament appearances, and it had started to look like Petersen was in line to be the next head coach.
Staying in-house likely increases the chances that Petersen can keep the roster somewhat intact, though it will be interesting to see if any of the current players or incoming recruits have interest in following Henderson to Drake.
"I am ready to get to work with our team and continue to build off the success of our program," Petersen said. "Jackrabbit Nation is special and I look forward to another packed First Bank & Trust Arena next season."
