After spending much of Thursday’s game yelling in frustration, Wake Forest first-year coach Mike Petersen entered the media room looking frustrated and despondent about his team’s 83-61 loss to North Carolina.
But by the middle of the interview session, Petersen was smiling and leaning back, calmly discussing his team’s disappointing performance while confidently looking ahead.
And the two players at his side, Cotelia Bond-Young and Porsche Jones, followed suit, giving hint of the new optimism that has begun to emerge in Winston-Salem.
“We’re better than that, aren’t we?” Petersen asked the two players, cracking a grin.
“OK — just checking.”
Despite the defeat, there’s little doubting that the team has significantly improved. Under previous coach Charlene Curtis, WFU failed to win more than five ACC games in any of her seven seasons.
Petersen assumed command in the offseason after Curtis’ contract was not renewed. He had previously served as the head women’s coach at Gonzaga, New Mexico State and TCU.
Most recently, he held the position of associate head men’s coach at Minnesota — whose offensive system he has tried to replicate in the women’s game.
“They take more 3s (than last year),” said UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell. “Charlene ran the triangle offense a lot, and they played some matchup zone. But (now) they just take a lot more 3s, more international style, five-man motion — all five players shooting 3s.”
