Austin girls head coach Gary Peterson breaks a time-out this past season. After 21 seasons coach Austin Peterson is retiring as head of the Austin Packers. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Gary Peterson has coached for 33 years and he spent 21 of them coaching the Austin girls basketball team.

He’s seen plenty of heartbreak and plenty of joy on the hardwood, but through it all he’ll always remember the people he worked with as he heads into retirement from coaching and teaching this summer.

“I just look back on the relationships I had with so many players, parents and assistant coaches,” Peterson said. “It’s unbelievable how many girls I’ve coached.”

Of all the players Peterson coached over the years, he considers Lisa Bue to be the most talented he ever coached. Bue, who went on to star at North Dakota State University and played pro ball in Europe for two years, remembers well how Peterson helped prepare her to play at the next level.

But she also remembers her old coach’s sense of humor just as much.

“He taught you a lot, but he still made it fun,” said Bue, who played for the Packers from 2000-2004 and is the Austin’s all-time leading scorer with 1,592 points. “He always had the goofiest jokes and they still stick out in my mind.”

Anyone who’s been around Peterson for an extended period of time has heard one of his jokes, which are often delivered when you least expect them.

Peterson learned early in his coaching career that sometimes it’s better to keep things light than to lose it.

“One time in my first year I got pretty upset with my players and the next day, nobody would to talk to me,” Peterson said. “(After that) I would always try to talk to them about other things besides basketball. We want to try to win, but you have to realize it’s just a game.”

As the Packers entered the 1990s, Peterson’s team was filled with a lot of talent. The class of 1995 included recent Austin Hall of Fame inductees Theresa Lang, who went on to play at NDSU, and Teri Watkins, who played at St. Cloud State.

Peterson also coached Mandy Arndtson, who went on to play at the Univerity of North Dakota, and Beth Bue, who went on to play at NDSU in the 1990s.

But while his teams were blessed with talent, that group happened to come at the same time as Rochester Mayo’s Coco and Kelly Miller, who went on to play in the WNBA.

Austin never beat the Spartans while the Millers were there and only two of the games came down to the wire.

“We thought we’d have a good chance to get to state for a couple of times (with those teams), but then the Miller twins came along and they were two of the best players Minnesota has ever seen,” Peterson said. “ They made it very difficult for us, even when we had good teams.”

Beth Bue remembered the days of losing to the Millers, but she said Peterson kept the team going through it all.

“He was dedicated to the game and he was always a positive role model,” she said. “When he was upset, he didn’t blow up and he gave us constructive criticism.”

Beth Bue also said when her and her fellow Austin grads were all playing on the college scene together, they often were complimented on their jump shots, which Peterson helped develop.

“That was back in the era when we had a lot of Austin girls playing college basketball,” Beth Bue said. “Coach Peterson always held his summer shooting camps and it was helpful for all of us.”

Some of Peterson’s connections have come full circle over the years.

When Peterson first came to Austin his wife was pregnant and he wanted to make sure his doctor had some daughters who could play basketball for him. He ended up with Doctor Tim Rietz and ended up coaching all three of his and former Austin mayor Bonnie Rietz’s daughters in high school. He now sees Doctor Rietz for annual check-ups.

During a two-year stint coaching Lyle-Pacelli, Peterson got to coach two of his daughters, and one of them played on his team that won the Southeast Conference Title.

Peterson also knew Watkins well before she played for him with the Packers. She went through warm-ups with the team as a fifth grader, played for him in high school and was inducted to the hall of fame this past season during one of Peterson’s final games with the Packers.

“We’ve had a lot of good players over the years,” Peterson said.

The Packers also put together a solid run in 2008. Despite having no players who went on to play Division I or Division II basketball, the team bonded together and made a run all the way to the Class ‘AAA’ state tournament.

Brittney Gibson, a guard on that team, said Peterson was very instrumental in keeping the group together.

“He was really open to our ideas and what we wanted to do,” Gibson said. “I wasn’t used to that and (my teammate) Tana (Lukes) and I still talk about that to this day.”

Gibson had the honor of knocking down a three-pointer from the wing at the buzzer to beat New Prague and send the Packers to state that year. She said her coach made her feel at ease in a tense moment.

“He had confidence in me and he never showed he was nervous. That helped me a lot,” Gibson said.

Peterson had originally thought about giving up coaching in 2006, but he wasn’t able to walk away until he was done teaching.

“I decided to take it one year at a time and I kept going,” he said. “I figured it would be tough for me to still be teaching but not coaching.”

Before his high school coaching career began, Peterson started coaching his younger brother’s junior high team in Barnum. That group went undefeated and went on to win a state title in 1983 after Peterson had moved on to coach girls basketball at Sandstone, Minn., where he won two district titles in seven years.

“(Coaching in Barnum) really got me interested in coaching. Those boys were really hard workers and they put a lot of time into it,” Peterson said.

Now Peterson plans on moving back to the Barnum area with his wife, who has stood by his side on all of the late nights on the rode for the past 33 winters.

“I couldn’t have done any of it without my wife Barb,” Peterson said. “Being a coach and being gone all of the time is very demanding on a marriage and you’ve got to have a very supportive wife.”

As he looks to retirement, Peterson is considering officiating games, becoming an assistant coach, or just enjoying the great outdoors.

“We’ll just have to see what happens. I’ve got to stay busy somehow,” he said.

PETERSON’S CAREER

1992 — Section runner up

1997 — Section runner up

2003 — Big Nine champs; Section runner up

2004 — Big Nine champs; Section champs; State tournament participant

2008 — Section champs; State tournament participant

1994 — Section 1AA coach of the year

2003 — Section 1AAA coach of the year

2008 — Section 1AAA coach of the year

2004 — Big Nine coach of the year

Career record: 373-310