GREEN BAY — Over the last few decades the UW-Green Bay women’s basketball team has played some very big games against Cleveland State.
Those two have ping-ponged in the standings over the last couple of years, but one Phoenix assistant coach is responsible for building up the Vikings program and making this a must-see rivalry.
“When you leave coaching you have to really come to terms with – once you leave (coaching) it’s really hard to get back in,” said Kate Peterson Abiad, an assistant coach at UWGB.
Last spring, when Phoenix head coach Kayla Karius took over the UW-Green bay coaching job, she had to build a staff. As a young coach, she says she was looking for someone with previous head coaching experience.
“I remember she beat us twice in the conference tournament which we were hosting here,” Karius said.
It just so happens a head coach who she competed against as a player was available. Kate Peterson Abiad, who was the head coach at Cleveland State from 2003-2018.
“This is actually my sales pitch, ‘we’re not very good, we’ve never been good – so come and do something that we’ll be able to say someday that we did this because of what you did when you played at Cleveland State’,” Peterson Abiad said.
With that, Peterson Abiad built the Cleveland State program, leading the Vikings to their first NCAA tournament appearance in program history in 2008 and another in 2010. Both times, they got past UW-Green Bay.
“I don't know how many Horizon League teams have been to the NCAA Tournament besides Green Bay and it’s like a dream for all those kids,” the UW-Green Bay assistant said.
Peterson Abiad left the Vikings 6 years ago to work as a WIAA executive and to spend more time with her children. When Karius called her this summer, she thought it was to ask about another coach – not to offer her a job.
“I really felt very lucky to get the job,” Peterson Abiad said. “I mean, now as you grow older and you’re spending your life in coaching, you realize how competitive it is."
Karius said she could tell Abiad Peterson missed building relationships with players. So far, she's been a big shoulder to lean on not only for her, but also the team.
“She has so much knowledge and dedication,” said senior guard Callie Genke. “She’s going to make sure she gets it right. She’s a great person to talk to, has so many stories. You can talk to her, she will break down the film with you. Any workouts. She's brought a lot of value to this team.”
Now on Thursday night, she will face off against her former team for the first-time. Peterson Abiad just says she's happy nobody she recruited still plays for the Vikings.
“That I'm very thankful for, because I don't know how that would’ve been. I would've been really emotional about that,” she said.
