Bio

Joe Peterson has had 10 of the most successful years in Buccaneer basketball history, guiding the Buccaneers to a 228-90 record (71.6%) and unprecedented heights. He has been named Mon-Dak Conference Coach of the Year three times, Region XIII Coach of the Year four times and North Central District Coach of the Year once. His teams have averaged 23 wins a season over his first ten years at the helm and 25 wins a season over the past 8 years. Over those seven years, Dawson has a 107-10 record (91%) at home including a 66-4 record (94%) at home vs. conference opponents. It has been even better over the past six years, going 79-5 at home and 57-2 at home against conference opponents. Dawson had a 35 game home winning streak vs. conference opponents snapped on January 31, 2022; and then followed that up with a 24 game winning streak that was snapped on February 5, 2024. Then another 17 game win streak before they lost at home to #3 ranked Indian Hills in the District Championship on March 15, 2025. Dawson has reached the Region XIII Championship Game eight times in ten years and finished in the top two in the conference standings eight times. Under Coach Peterson’s tenure, the Buccaneers have been known for how hard they play and how well they play together as a team. They employ a high pressure defense and a high scoring offense.

The 2024-2025 season was one for the record books. The Buccaneers won the Mon-Dak Tip-off Tournament for the 3rd straight year, won the Mon-Dak Conference regular season championship with a 13-1 conference record and won the Region XIII Tournament. They fell just short of qualifying for the NJCAA D1 National Tournament, losing to #3 ranked Indian Hills by four points in the North Central District Championship game at home. Dawson finished with a 29-4 overall record. It was the second most wins in the program's 67 year history.  They were ranked in the top 25 during the last month of the season, finishing at #22 in the final poll. At the end of their season, Dawson had the 3rd most overall wins in the country.  

Statistically, the Bucs were the 2nd highest scoring team in the country at 101 points per game, 2nd in field goals made (1241), 6th in field goal percentage (50.4%), 12th in 3-pointers made (306), 13th in 3-point percentage (37.3%), 18th in free throws made (536), 8th in offensive efficiency (1.183) and 9th in net efficiency (0.241). On the defensive end they finished 3rd in turnovers forced (20.1), 4th in steals (13.3). Finally on the boards, Dawson was 13th in offensive rebounding (14.4) and 20th in overall rebounding (42.1). In the Mon-Dak Conference, Dawson led all 8 teams in field goals made, field goal percentage, 3 point percentage, offensive rebounding, turnovers forced, steals, points, offensive efficiency and overall efficiency; while finishing 2nd in 3 pointers made, assists, turnovers, 3 point percentage defense, and rebounding margin. 

The 2024-2025 Bucs broke the single season scoring record at Dawson by averaging 101 points per game. 19 times they broke the 100 point mark, 8 times they scored over 110, 5 times over 120 and in their semifinal win over Miles they broke the 130 point mark. 

In the 2023-2024 season, Coach Peterson led Dawson to a 25-7 record and 17-4 conference record. They won the Mon-Dak Tip-Off Tournament for the third time in the past four years.  They finished in 2nd place in conference and reached the Regional Championship game. They posted a 20-6 record vs. Division I teams. Out of over 200 NJCAA D1 teams in the country, Dawson was 2nd in steals per game, 4th in turnovers forced per game, 4th in offensive boards per game, 6th in field goals made, 7th in total points and 18th in 3 point field goals made.  

In the previous 2022-2023 season, Dawson had a 24-8 record and a 17-4 conference record. They won the Mon-Dak Tip-Off Tournament, finished in second place in the regular season and reached the Region XIII Championship game again.  

In 2021-2022, Dawson compiled a 27-6 record and their 3rd  straight Region XIII Championship, winning on the road at North Dakota State College of Science 84-75. They were on the brink of the Top 25 for most of the year and beat three Top 25 teams during the season. They were 5-0 vs. Region IX teams and finished 17-4 in conference. Out of around 200 NJCAA Division I teams in the country, Dawson finished #2 in three-pointers made (342); #6 in steals per game (12.7), #6 in turnovers forced per game (20.5); #10 in assists per game (19.4); #11 in points per game (90.1); and #14 in offensive rebounds per game (14.6).

2021 was a record breaking year for the Bucs as Peterson led them to a 23-3 record and a berth in the NJCAA D1 National Tournament. It was the first time in the program’s 63 year history that they reached Nationals. Dawson won the Mon-Dak Conference, Region XIII Tournament and the North Central District Championship over the 6th ranked team in the country.

When the Buccaneers won the Region Championship in 2020, it was Coach Peterson’s 100th win at Dawson. A magical 2019-2020 season saw Dawson win the Mon-Dak Pre-season Conference Tournament, the Regular Season Title and the Region XIII Championship. Dawson fell one win short of reaching the NJCAA Division I National Tournament, losing to the second ranked team in the country in the District Championship Game, which broke their 17 game winning streak and ended their season. The Region Championship was the first time Dawson had won the Region in 49 years. The Conference Championship was only the 2nd conference title Dawson had won since 1987. The Bucs went undefeated through the preseason tournament, conference regular season, and the region tournament; a combined 19-0.    

Twenty six of Coach Pete’s players have been selected to the All-Conference team and twenty have been selected as All-Region. Four players have been chosen as NJCAA D1 All-Americans. Coach Pete has also had good success in helping his players move on to higher levels. In all, 55 Buccaneers have moved on to the next level during Coach Peterson’s ten years at the helm.

Coach Peterson played for legendary Coach Don Mast and the Bucs from 1994-1996. In his sophomore year he captained the Bucs to a 22-6 record as well as a North Sub Region Championship. He was named to the All-Region IX team and the All-Mon-Dak team. He received the President’s Award during his graduation from DCC. He went on to finish his playing career at Rocky Mountain College where he was All-Frontier Conference first team performer and earned NAIA All-American honors. He was inducted into the Rocky Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011. At Rocky he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Math Education.

After finishing his playing career, he taught at Billings West High School and coached at Rocky Mountain College. From there Coach Pete moved on to coach at the Division I level when he joined Coach Mike McConathy’s staff at Northwestern State University (NSU) in Natchitoches, Louisiana where he earned a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration and helped the Demons to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance and first ever NCAA Tournament win in 2001.

After two successful years at NSU he was hired as an Assistant Coach at Charleston Southern University working for legendary coach Jim Platt from 2001-2003.

In 2003 Coach Pete left his life in America to serve at a school for AIDS orphans in rural Kenya for what turned out to be 11 years. He worked as a teacher, coach and administrator at Christ’s Gift Academy. In 2009, he started The Suba Lakers Soccer Club for girls in Kenya to develop their talents, teach them life skills and encourage them to stay in school.

Joe married his wife Daneen in May of 2013 and they continued serving in Kenya until the end of 2014 before returning to America and eventually taking the job at Dawson as Head Basketball Coach and Athletic Director. They reside in Glendive with their two young children, JoJo and Aria. 

Coach Pete brings with him over 20 years of coaching experience at various levels, including 4 years at the NCAA Division I level.  His focus as a coach is to inspire his players to give maximum effort, develop a positive attitude and work together as a team to achieve success in basketball, in the classroom and in life.