American Business Group Milan

Speaker for April 2019 Lunch

Dan Peterson

Dan Peterson is an American professional basketball head coach, most recently for Olimpia Milano during the 2011 season. 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.

Peterson 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. He was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.

Peterson is a popular sports commentator for many Italian television channels including the Italian channel Sportitalia.

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

In 2012 Peterson was nominated for inclusion in the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame, the only non-Italian ever to be nominated.