American Business Group, ABG

Speaker for September 2008 Lunch

Dan Peterson

Dan Peterson 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.

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.

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.

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