Boys basketball: Marian Central hires Rick Peterson as head coach

The process for Marian Central athletic director Cody O’Neill finding a new boys basketball coach felt familiar to that of a year ago.

This time, last year’s runner-up got the job.

Rick Peterson, who has coached the last five seasons with Woodstock’s girls and Alden-Hebron’s boys, was announced Tuesday as the Hurricanes’ new boss.

Peterson, 66, retired from his position in Northwest Herald advertising sales in December 2022. He coached Woodstock’s girls in 2020 and 2021, then A-H’s boys the past three seasons.

“I’m very excited and honored at this time in my life to be a varsity coach at a great institution like Marian Central,” Peterson said. “I had some great experiences and met some great people at Hebron, but it was time for me to grab this opportunity.

“I learned a lot about coaching in the last five years, it’s much different than coaching in junior college. This is Year 6 back at the high school level. One thing I learned is – show me a good high school coach and I’ll show you a good junior high program.”

Peterson is excited about the 25 seventh and eighth graders in Marian’s feeder program. He takes over for Sean Stochl, who took the Hurricanes to a 9-24 record. They were 2-6 in their first season in the Chicagoland Christian Conference.

“The biggest thing is his experience,” O’Neill said of Peterson. “He’s been a few places locally, he played Division II basketball and has a great background and knowledge of the game. Last year, Rick and I interviewed for the job and I told Sean he was going to be our coach. It was nothing against Rick, it happened that I have a good relationship with Sean and we are friends. I trust Sean. I still trust Sean.”

Peterson got his coaching start back in 1988 at McHenry County College with two powerhouse seasons when the Scots were 46-10. He returned to coaching with Woodstock’s girls and took the Blue Streaks from last in the Kishwaukee River Conference to a tie for third and an 11-18 record.

In his second season at A-H in 2023, the Giants were 11-18, 4-2 in the Northeastern Athletic Conference, their best conference mark since 2007.

“I don’t know everything, but I know what not to do now,” said Peterson, reflecting on his five high school coaching seasons. “As you go along, you learn. I met a lot of great people and made a lot of friends at my last two schools. All of that is helping me now. I feel pretty confident that it won’t be that long and we’ll be competitive there.

“I hate to use the word rebuild in high school. I don’t want the kids to think we’re in a rebuild year and it gives us an excuse not to set goals and things like that. I told the kids we can turn this around a lot quicker than you think. I’ve been in these situations twice now where we turned it around in a short amount of time.”

Marian is graduating Christian Bentancur, who passed 2,000 career points, and Cale McThenia, who scored more than 1,000 points. Both were four-year varsity players.

“Rick brings some stability to the program,” O’Neill said. “Everything he talked about was building the program from the ground up, starting with the feeder through the freshman level and JV.

“Rick has a great understanding of the game, the way he develops his team from the defensive side and going from there. I’m excited to see what the future looks like over these next five or six years moving forward.”

Peterson did not play in high school, but went on to become a star at McHenry County College, where he averaged 30 points a game his sophomore year. He is in the MCC Hall of Fame as both a player and as the Scots’ women’s coach.

Peterson now wants to spend time with his new players and get to know them.

“It’s a matter of floor time with the kids,” Peterson said. “How much are we going to get with these kids between now and November? A lot of our kids just need experience and floor time. The main thing is we’re going to reinstate confidence, support each other and have fun.

“I want the kids to know basketball’s a fun game. You have to work first. That’s going to be the goal. This is a blast to me, I love coaching, and I want the kids to love to play.”