A Family Affair: Nic Petersen, Florida Jumpers Thriving in Family-Oriented Environment
Thursday, November 12, 2015 | Track and Field
"Ever since I started coaching I've called my athletes my kids, and they are a part of my family." -- Nic Petersen
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Roughly six years ago, a letter from Nic Petersen arrived at the University of Florida's track and field office. Addressed to long-time Gators head coach Mike Holloway, it was one of several penned by Petersen, then restlessly pursuing any and all paid coaching opportunities following his second season as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska.
The former pole vaulter certainly wasn't short on experience. He'd tutored two national champions, five Big 12 Conference champions, and a 2008 Olympian alongside legendary head coach Gary Pepin. But he was relatively short on professional contacts. And the coaching fraternity is one of the hardest to break into.
Whether or not Holloway actually received the letter remains a mystery. Petersen knows he sent it. Holloway doesn't remember it ever coming across his desk.
Today, inside Florida's Lemerand Athletic Center, their offices reside just three doors down from one another.
Holloway lured Petersen away from Texas Christian University in the summer of 2012, tabbing the young Nebraskan who'd been an assistant coach all of three seasons to lead one of the most illustrious jumps programs in NCAA history—UF owns 20 men's national titles, the third-most among Division I teams since winning its first crown in 1951.
Taking a position with such immense expectations and prestige at the tender age of 29 has the potential to crush anyone lacking the proper knowledge, ability to connect with world-class athletes, and acute attention to detail.
Given the results through Petersen's first three seasons as a Gator, none of those things faze him.
Under his watch, Gator jumpers have amassed nine national titles and 12 Southeastern Conference crowns. Two of those athletes—Omar Craddock and Marquis Dendy—went on to claim gold medals at the United States Track and Field Outdoor Championships following their senior years, eventually going on to leap at the World Championships.
Coaches constantly ask Petersen how he deals with the added pressure that comes with the position. To him, the answer is simple: embrace the challenge.
"Is there pressure? Yes," he said. "But, from my outlook, Florida doesn't put any more pressure on me than I already put on myself. I tell recruits and parents all the time: University of Florida jumps coach, I don't think there's a better assistant coaching job in the country."
***
On an unusually sweltering mid-October afternoon, Petersen sits on the infield of Percy Beard Track in Gainesville, Fla., carefully watching his kids bound down the runway into the sand-filled jumping pit. Less than 48 hours ago, he and his wife, the former Kerri Hanks, a two-time Hermann Trophy (collegiate soccer's highest individual honor) winner, celebrated the birth of their second son, Cole, baby brother to two-year-old Greyson.
But Petersen, running purely on excitement and Gatorade, has his eyes trained on his other kids right now.
"Ever since I started coaching I've called my athletes my kids, and they are a part of my family," Petersen said. "(Fatherhood) makes the relationships I have with my athletes even stronger, because now that I have kids and care for something more than myself or anything else … they get to see that, and are involved in that dynamic."
Involved isn't a strong enough description of how deep the connection runs between Petersen's athletes and his family. Immersed, perhaps even absorbed are far better terms.
Wherever Petersen's coached, track and field has always been a family affair.
Over the years, his mom and dad have fallen in love with the sport. The two frequent track meets featuring Nic's jumpers, often driving several hours to offer encouragement from the bleachers. They aren't just faces in the crowd either. They cheer as if they're watching their own children compete again.
"I've never actually seen a coach's family come (to a meet)," said Whitney Gipson, a two-time long jump national champion under Petersen at TCU. "Just to have that sense of support, knowing we have supporters outside of our coaches and families, it was just cool seeing them in the stands, how much passion they have for track and field and Nic's athletes. They're good people, like a family away from home."
Nearly all of Petersen's family still resides in his hometown, Omaha, Neb., where his father and younger brother run a local pizzeria. Nic always winds up spinning dough and manning the oven whenever he's back in town.
The family is a close-knit, hard-working bunch. Holidays are always spent together, with almost every member in attendance.
His family's values—dedication, togetherness, unwavering support—are what Petersen uses as the foundation for his athletes' success. Florida's jumps program, one that already had a tremendous support structure among its alumni and current athletes, has never been stronger, closer, or more united with him leading the way.
Like most families, Petersen and his athletes celebrate holidays as a group. In addition to the annual get-together he hosts for the jumpers, Petersen's kids know there's always an open invitation to spend holidays with their coach, his wife and kids.
Welcomed with open arms and without reservation, his pupils regularly take advantage of the proposition, cherishing those opportunities to establish a bond well beyond what they could forge strictly as coach and athlete.
"Their family is, to me, like extended family. It's amazing," said Darrielle McQueen, a sophomore jumper for the Gators. "Some of my other coaches, their families weren't quite as involved. With Coach Petersen, his family is completely involved. It means the world to me to have the support of him and his family.
"They could choose to do other things, but they stand right beside him and right beside us."
***
Finding motivation has never been an issue for Petersen.
A much different letter during his 2009 job hunt, one of rejection from a prominent Division I university, drove Petersen to become the coach he is today. Galvanized by the sting of denial, he studied jumping techniques and training strategies, paying especially close attention to the most miniscule details, aiming to ensure no one could spurn him again.
Ever.
"I posted that (letter) up in my apartment," Petersen said. "I walked by it every time I came in. That was motivation to me. They didn't want me, well, they're going to be mad they missed out on me. I made it my goal to be the best ever. The fastest way to get me to do something is to tell me I can't do it."
Craddock, who repeated as the outdoor triple jump national champion in 2013, required doubt and dismissal to reach peak form. If Craddock wasn't executing phases properly, Petersen would be waiting near the pit, ready to tell him, "Omar you're going to lose today. You're not good enough."
Few men ever defeated Craddock following those moments.
Motivational quotes are another tool frequently used by Petersen, an avid reader of fiction and biographies.
Dendy thrived on them. With Petersen delivering inspirational quotes before every meet, Dendy blossomed into one of the most prolific combination jumpers in collegiate history, winning seven national titles and becoming just the second Division I athlete to sweep the horizontal jump titles at three consecutive NCAA Championships.
All Gipson ever needed was reassurance. Prior to her collegiate-record-breaking 6.91-meter long jump at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships, Petersen didn't say much, only reiterating, "Gip, you're ready." For him to say that, she thought, nothing could stop her from doing something extraordinary.
"I know they know how much I believe in them, but I think it's important for them to feel that, especially in the moments before big meets," said Petersen, who often writes uplifting notes for his athletes on the eve of competition.
Along with the motivational support Petersen provides, his emotional investment in the success of his kids is admirable.
One of his first mentees at Nebraska, Nicholas Gordon, remembered two specific moments that best characterized Petersen's profound devotion.
At the 2008 Big 12 Championships, when Petersen was in his first season as a volunteer assistant. Gordon took third place in the long jump, narrowly missing out on the title. Petersen was devastated, even more so than Gordon.
The following year, at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Gordon took his final jump with a chance to win the national title. Immediately after the landing, Petersen's voice pierced through the crowd, excitedly asking for the distance, nervously hoping it would be enough to win. Gordon looked down and began clapping, letting Petersen know the championship was his.
"I remember Nic taking off, just running up and down the sidelines, around the track," Gordon said. "He came over to me and he was crying. That's what I remember. He was crying and I was the one that had just won (a national title). He wanted it really bad for me. It felt like we were both out there competing.
"I always felt like he was my big brother who wanted the best for me."
While pushing the right buttons with athletes is instrumental to Petersen's coaching success, having a scientific and technical understanding of each jumping event is far and away his greatest asset.
"He's always studying," said Craddock, noting his powerful style meshed with Petersen's technique-based philosophies. "Whether it's him coming up with his own thing, or he's seen it from a different coach, or doing his own research on how to make things better … Nic really wanted to dissect our best abilities."
Petersen isn't researching alone either. He turns his kids students of their sport. Like him, they enjoy the challenge.
"It's one of the best coaching experiences I've had," Dendy said this past August. "He is willing to, in any way, make (us) better. That's the best thing about him."
Combine Petersen's comprehensive knowledge of the jumps with his capacity to motivate, and the result is his drive for perfection. In addition to the aforementioned qualities, his zeal for the unattainable is one of the biggest reasons Coach Holloway brought him to Florida.
"I think he's a perfectionist … and that's why he's a good coach," Holloway said. "That's what makes good coaches, what drives good coaches. They want their athletes to do things the right way, all the time."
***
It's before 7 a.m. on a weekday and Petersen is sound asleep.
McQueen is across campus; her car won't start. Dead battery.
Her father—who passed away after a three-month battle with cancer, only days before she garnered long jump All-America honors at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships—always handled any car troubles she had. Without him, there was only one person she knew would pick up the phone, help her get on the road again.
"I could tell Coach Petersen was asleep right before he answered, but he got right to helping me figure things out," McQueen smiled. "I can call him anytime."
That's what family is for.
