Tony Petersen - Football Coach - East Carolina University Athletics

Tony Petersen

Title:
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Email:
<a href="mailto:ecufootballrecruit@ecu.edu">petersento16@ecu.edu</a>
Phone:
(252) 737-4570

Tony Petersen, who has directed some of the nation’s most exciting and prolific offenses which have paved the way for championships and bowl victories, is in his third year as ECU’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after accepting the position on Dec. 31, 2015.

Petersen owns over 27 years of experience, including success as a coordinator in the Big Ten Conference and record-setting tenures guiding units at both Marshall and Louisiana Tech. His arrival at ECU ended a three-year stay in Ruston where he played a pivotal role in the Bulldogs’ 18 combined victories and consecutive bowl titles in 2014 and 2015.

He followed by making an immediate impact at ECU in 2016, coordinating a unit that produced the second-highest single-season passing attack in school history with an average of 334.7 air yards per game. The Pirates also generated 5,605 yards of offense (467.1 ypg) during Petersen’s inaugural year in Greenville, which stood as the fourth-highest seasonal total in the program’s record books.

Petersen’s squad also ranked among the nation’s Top 25 (of 128 FBS programs) in four different offensive statistical categories in 2016, rating 6th in passing, 11th in completion percentage, 22nd in fourth down conversion percentage and 23rd in total offense.

From an individual standpoint, Petersen played a key role helping Biletnikoff Award finalist Zay Jones capture FBS stat titles in receptions (158), receptions per game (13.2), receiving yards per game (145.5), while ranking 2nd in receiving yards (1,746) on the way to establishing NCAA career (399) and single-season standards in receptions. Additionally, he tutored first-year Pirate quarterback Philip Nelson to FBS national ranks in completion percentage (7th/67.9) and completions per game (10th/23.7).

During his second season in 2017, the Pirates' passing game again turned in impressive numbers by ranking fifth in program history with a 3,815-yard total (317.9 ypg). At the national level, ECU's air numbers stood 12th among all FBS programs, while two players - receivers Trevon Brown and Davon Grayson - earned All-AAC honors under his leadership.

Petersen also balanced production between starting quarterbacks Thomas Sirk and Gardner Minshew in 2017. The latter, who set AAC and ECU single-game completion records with a 52-of-68, 463-yard outing at Houston, accounted for 2,140 overall passing yards and 16 TDs. Sirk was the Pirates' fourth-leading rusher with 165 yards while adding 1,655 through the air.

Before his arrival at ECU, Petersen assisted Louisiana Tech to a 9-4 record, which included a 47-28 win over Arkansas State in the 2015 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. He was formally named a nominee for the Broyles Award (national assistant coach of the year) after the Bulldogs ranked among the top 10 in school history in five different offensive categories - total yards, points scored, rushing touchdowns, touchdown passes and passing yards.

As Tech’s quarterbacks coach, Petersen molded senior transfer Jeff Driskel into one of the nation’s top signal-callers who earned Top 25 FBS statistical ratings in eight different offensive categories in 2015. The Bulldogs completed the regular season ranked 14th in the NCAA in passing offense and 17th in scoring offense with 37.5 points per game.

A year earlier in 2014, Petersen directed an offense that stood fifth at the FBS level in most improved scoring offense (37.4 ppg) as the Bulldogs powered their way to a 9-5 overall record that included a C-USA West Division title and a 35-18 win over Illinois in the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl.

A record-setting quarterback at Marshall, Petersen joined the Tech staff in January, 2013 after serving as the Thundering Herd’s co-offensive coordinator for three seasons in the second of two stints at his alma mater.

Petersen’s third season on Doc Holliday’s staff at Marshall proved to be his best as he mentored sophomore quarterback Rakeem Cato to an impressive 2012 campaign. The C-USA MVP led the nation in completions per game (33.83) and passing yards per game (350.08) and finished third in TD passes (37), fourth in completion percentage (69.5) and fifth in total offense per game (352.67). The Herd topped the league in scoring offense, passing offense, total offense, pass efficiency, third down conversions and first downs. In the latter two categories, Marshall ranked second nationally.

Prior to his second stint at Marshall, Petersen spent the 2009 season as the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach at the University of South Dakota after serving as quarterbacks coach at Iowa State University for two years. While with the Cyclones, quarterback Bret Meyer finished his ISU career in 2007 with school records in passing yards and total offense.

From 1999 to 2006, Petersen was co-offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and eventually the passing coordinator at Minnesota, where quarterback Bryan Cupito set an all-time passing mark.

In Petersen’s eight seasons during his first stint at Marshall, the Thundering Herd qualified for the postseason eight straight times, winning Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) national championships in 1992 and 1996, and Mid-American Conference titles in both 1997 and 1998 when the school moved up to the FBS level.

Petersen served as wide receivers coach in 1992 and directly worked with eventual three-time Super Bowl Champion Troy Brown. Peterson served as quarterbacks coach for five of his previous eight years at Marshall and was offensive coordinator in 1998, coaching future NFL quarterbacks Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich in that capacity.

As a player at Marshall, Petersen was named the 1988 Southern Conference Athlete-of-the-Year and the SoCon Offensive Player-of-the-Year in 1987 after leading the Herd to the NCAA Division I-AA National Championship Game with a school-record 35 touchdown passes. He set 16 Southern Conference single-season and career standards in passing and total offense, to go along with six Marshall single-season school marks before signing with the Minnesota Vikings as a free agent in 1989.

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 CC.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management and marketing in 1990 and master’s degree in administration in 1995, both from Marshall.

Petersen and his wife Beth have three children - Andy, Nikki Nelson and Taylor.