Rick Peterson returns to coach Alden-Hebron boys basketball

Rick Peterson’s run as Marian Central boys basketball coach was short, but productive.

“They’re going to do really well in the future,” Peterson said. “That was important to me.”

Peterson inherited a rebuild situation at Marian, and now the 67-year-old is ready to tackle a similar situation – and at a place where he’s no stranger.

Peterson’s hiring as Alden-Hebron’s boys basketball coach became official Wednesday night. He coached the Giants for three seasons before stepping down last year to take over the program at Marian.

“Marian Central is a great place,” Peterson said. “I’ve met a lot of great people with great experience, but for me, at this time of my life, it was time for me to go back to Alden-Hebron High School.”

Peterson replaces Jared Bauer, whose Giants went 1-26, including 1-11 in the Northeastern Athletic Conference. As A-H’s coach from 2021-24, Peterson was 27-56. His 2022-23 team (his second at the school) went 11-18, including 5-2 in the NAC, the Giants’ most wins ever in the conference.

“I’m extremely happy he’s coming back,” A-H athletic director John Lalor said. “As an older coach myself [62], and him being older, it’s good to see some guys who are older who can still relate to the young kids, and the kids relate to them. He’s just a darn good basketball coach.”

Winning on the court and rebuilding basketball programs are nothing new to Peterson.

A 1975 graduate of McHenry, where he didn’t play basketball, the 6-foot-6 Peterson played two seasons at McHenry County College, where he emerged a star. He averaged 30 points a game his sophomore season and earned a scholarship to Division II Regis College in Denver.

Years later, while still in his 20s, he returned to MCC to serve as coach of the women’s team and had immediate success.

“I had great talent at MCC,” Peterson said.

The Scots went 21-5 in his first season (1987-88) and were 20-5 the following year. They won the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference championship two years in a row, the first two titles in program history.

“I didn’t know what the heck I was doing,” Peterson said with a laugh. “I was 28 years old and we won back-to-back conference championships. I knew basketball, but not like I know now.”

Peterson then took a break from coaching – he worked in advertising sales for Shaw Media for more than 35 years – before returning to coach Woodstock’s girls team in 2017. The Blue Streaks won four games the previous season and jumped to 11 wins in Peterson’s first two years. They went from last place in the Kishwaukee River Conference to a tie for third.

He stepped down after two seasons.

“There is a satisfaction to taking a team that’s really low, and then building them back to respectability and getting the kids to have confidence and have fun again,” Peterson said. “It’s a different feeling, but that’s what I’ve adjusted to this second time around.”

At Marian, Peterson replaced Sean Stochl, who coached the Hurricanes to a 9-24 record, which included a 2-6 mark in their first season in the Chicagoland Christian Conference, in his first and only season.

Under Peterson, who’s a member of the MCC (Class of 2017) and Skyway Conference (Class of 2019) Halls of Fame, Marian improved its win total to 12, after a 1-8 start, and played competitively in a 53-41 loss to Byron in a Class 2A regional semifinal. The Hurricanes also made significant improvements to their win-loss record on the lower levels.

Stefan Stojich and Mark Jablonski were two sophomores who flashed potential as sophomores playing on varsity for the first time.

“We improved a lot,” Peterson said. “This sophomore group that is going to be juniors, this is the part that’s hard for me [leaving]. They’re going to be really good. They’re athletic. They’re going to win some ballgames. By the time they’re seniors, look out. They’re probably going to have a really good season this year.”