AMES, Iowa -- Tony Petersen, who has been to nine bowl games at Minnesota and his alma mater, Marshall, has been named quarterbacks coach at Iowa State, Cyclone head coach Gene Chizik announced Wednesday. Petersen's coaching career followed a record-breaking term as quarterback at Marshall, where he earned bachelor's (1988) and master's degrees (1995). His quarterbacks at Marshall included New York Jet Chad Pennington and signal-callers at Minnesota set a slew of school records.
Petersen concluded his eighth season on the Minnesota coaching staff and his second season as passing game coordinator in 2006. Petersen served as co-offensive coordinator for five seasons (2001-05) as the Gophers rewrote the school record book, took the nation by storm and established their brand of offense as one of the best in the NCAA. Petersen, who entered the coaching profession in 1990, also served as quarterbacks coach.
“The most impressive thing to me about Tony was how he has coached several different quarterbacks and all were successful over a period of time,” Chizik said. “The statistics speak for themselves. He has coached at the highest level and his quarterbacks and passing schemes have contributed significantly to eight straight bowl game appearances.”
Petersen brought a perfect blend to the offense as witnessed by the fact that Minnesota is the only team over the past eight seasons to both rush and pass for over 2,000 yards each year. The Gophers have also finished among the top 35 in total offense in the nation the past eight seasons, joining Boise State as the only other school to accomplish the feat.
“This is a great opportunity,” Petersen said. “I'm really excited about Gene Chizik's vision for Iowa State's football program and I'm looking forward to working under (ISU offensive coordinator) Robert McFarland.”
In 2006, Petersen's passing game exploded as the Gophers recorded 2,874 yards through the air, which represents the second-highest total in Minnesota history. Petersen was instrumental in senior quarterback Bryan Cupito becoming the school's all-time leading passer with 7,183 yards, ranking second in career TD passes (52) and career efficiency (137.65). The Gophers had a 2,000-yard passer for the fifth consecutive season, a new school record.
Under Petersen's leadership in 2005, Cupito produced one of the best individual seasons in school history, ranking third for single-season passing yards (2,530), ninth in passing attempts (297), eighth in completions and second in touchdown passes (19). Cupito's pass efficiency rating of 145.87 ranked as the second-best pass efficiency rating for a single season in school history and ranked fifth in the Big Ten and 21st nationally. Through Petersen's guidance, Cupito's numbers dramatically improved from the 2004 season to the 2005 season. Cupito increased his completions by 53, while increasing his attempts by only 36. Cupito threw for 433 more yards in 2005 and increased his completion percentage by more than 12 percent.
Petersen played a key role in the development of quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq (2000-03), who rewrote the school record book at Minnesota during his four seasons. Under Petersen, Abdul-Khaliq became the school's all-time total offense leader with 7,818 yards and also set school records for career touchdown passes (55) and season completion percentage (63%, 2003). He ranks second all-time in career passing yards (6,660) and career completions (481), and in 2003, he led the Big Ten and finished fifth in the nation in pass efficiency (162.3). Khaliq helped engineer one of the most prolific offensive seasons in Big Ten history in 2003. Minnesota set a Big Ten record for total offense (6,430) and finished with the fourth-highest rushing total (3,759) and sixth-highest point total (503) in Big Ten history.
On top of those marks, the Gophers also set new school records in several other categories including: touchdowns (66), rushing touchdowns (46), yards-per-play (6.6), completion percentage (61.3%), first downs (326) and 500-yard games (7). Minnesota led the Big Ten and finished among the NCAA leaders in rushing offense (3rd, 289.2 ypg), total offense (4th, 494.6 ypg) and scoring offense (7th, 38.7 ppg) last season.
In 2000, Petersen helped Travis Cole become one of the nation's most efficient quarterbacks as he posted a rating of 137.6, which ranked 16th in the nation. Prior to Petersen's arrival in 1999, the Gophers hadn't posted consecutive seasons with at least 16 touchdown passes in their history. Since that time, Petersen's quarterbacks have thrown for at least 16 touchdowns in six straight seasons, including 20 in 2000 and 21 in 2002.
Petersen was also instrumental in the success of Minnesota quarterback Billy Cockerham in 1999. Under Petersen's guidance, Cockerham broke school records for rushing yards by a quarterback (831) and rushing touchdowns by a QB (10).
A 1988 graduate of Marshall University, where he charted a record-setting career of his own at quarterback for the Thundering Herd, Petersen left for Minnesota after eight successful seasons (1991-98) in several different capacities as an assistant coach at his alma mater. During Petersen's eight-year tenure at Marshall, the Thundering Herd made eight straight postseason appearances. In his final season at Marshall, Petersen served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach as the Thundering Herd captured their second straight Mid-American Conference title and defeated Louisville in the 1998 Motor City Bowl.
Petersen was Marshall's quarterbacks coach for five seasons (1993-95, 1997-98) and his signal-callers collected first-team all-league honors four times. Headlining that list was Pennington, who earned first-team All-MAC honors in both 1997 and 1998 and was a finalist in 1998 for the Davey O'Brien Award, which annually honors the nation's top quarterback. Pennington broke the NCAA record for touchdown passes by a sophomore with 39 and set a Mid-American Conference record with 3,480 yards passing. Petersen also coached Pennington to Southern Conference Freshman of the Year honors in 1995.
Petersen also coached quarterback Todd Donnan to first-team All-Southern Conference honors in both 1993 and 1994. Donnan was named Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 1994. In 1992, Petersen handled Marshall's receivers, where he worked with Troy Brown, an all-pro wideout for the NFL's New England Patriots. Petersen, who began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kentucky in 1990, coached Marshall's running backs in 1991.
As a player at Marshall, Petersen was named the 1988 Southern Conference Athlete of the Year and the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 1987. A free agent signee of the Minnesota Vikings in 1989, Petersen set 16 Southern Conference single-season and career records in passing and total offense, to go along with six Marshall single-season school marks. He threw a record 35 touchdown passes in 1987. Petersen also set NCAA records for most passes in a game without an interception (68) and for most regular season games (11) with more than 200 yards passing.
Petersen went to Marshall after a stellar career at Delta Community College in Stockton, Calif. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals after his first season at Delta C.C. Petersen also played three seasons for the Thundering Herd baseball program.
A native of Lodi, Calif., Petersen earned his master's degree in athlete administration from Marshall in 1995. His grandfather, Ike Petersen, played for the NFL's Detroit Lions. Tony and his wife, Beth, have three children - Andy (11), Nikki Nelson (9) and Taylor (3).
