One day after being introduced as the new women’s basketball coach at Purdue Fort Wayne on April 15, it was clear Kate Peterson Abiad was still getting used to her new surroundings.
“I’m going down the wrong way here, hold on,” Peterson Abiad said while on the phone. “I’m still learning my way around yet.”
The streets are new, but a coaching job is not.
Peterson Abiad is off on a new adventure after spending the last two seasons as an assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay under Kayla Karius, who brought in the veteran coach when she was hired by the Phoenix in April 2024.
Truth is, Peterson Abiad never expected all the things that have happened the last two years.
When she stepped down as the Cleveland State coach in 2018 after 15 seasons and a program record 206 wins, Peterson Abiad figured that was likely a wrap on a notable career that started in 1991 when she was an assistant at Indiana.
“When you get out, you pretty much concede that you are not getting back in,” Peterson Abiad said. “You’ve kind of given up your trajectory as a coach.”
For several years after the CSU stint, she was right.
The Wisconsin native returned home and accepted a job with the WIAA in Stevens Point.
As an assistant director, her responsibilities with the organization included the administration and coordination of duties for basketball, boys and girls tennis, and boys and girls lacrosse.
Even better, it gave her the opportunity to spend more time with her two young daughters, Mea and Remi, and her husband, Philippe.
Peterson Abiad, 57, was happy. She enjoyed her new job and working with prep players in a more behind-the-scenes role. She loved the extra time with her family.
But then came that spring day in 2024 when she received a call from Karius asking if she would join her staff at UWGB.
Just when Peterson Abiad thought she was out of college basketball, it pulled her back in.
She helped lead the Phoenix to the NCAA Tournament in each of her two years.
After UWGB’s season ended with a loss to Minnesota in the Big Dance last month, it was a good bet it also would end Peterson Abiad’s time in Green Bay.
Other schools were interested in her as a head coach. She interviewed for three openings during the Final Four and was offered the job at Purdue Fort Wayne, the same team she helped dismantle by 25 points March 9 in a Horizon League tournament semifinal before UWGB beat Youngstown State a day later to earn an automatic bid to the NCAAs.
The time she spent in Green Bay made it clear she still had a lot of basketball left in her.
“I think I just felt like myself more again,” Peterson Abiad said. “Realized that it was kind of what I belonged doing. Once you have that feeling, it’s easy to think about what’s next.
“Although, I was very happy. There was so much good to being there, but when you have an opportunity to take that next step, it’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t have guessed this, but it’s really nice that it’s happening.”
Being on a Division I coaching staff often requires long hours and days during the season, but they were even longer for Peterson Abiad at UWGB.
She traveled from her home in Stevens Point to Green Bay for practices and games, often leaving at 5:30 or 6 a.m. to drive about 110 miles to the Kress Center before doing it all over again at the end of each day.
Although it became part of a routine, it’s fair to say Peterson Abiad is looking forward to living a lot closer to her new job.
Make no mistake, she enjoyed working with the coaches and players at UWGB.
They made the sacrifices worth it.
“Being a part of a program that is so successful, historically successful, which is so different than being successful for a year or two,” Peterson Abiad said. “Learning what has been done the same way for a very long time there was really interesting to me. Learning about their processes and their culture and those types of things that are invaluable. That was amazing.
“The system has been in place for many, many years. I probably learned more from them than they learned from me, to be honest. … What they do there is so solid and so sound. We were, at one point, 15-0 in the conference season. The year before that, we were 19-1 overall in conference. It is really something the way things operate. It was a phenomenal experience, and being around the players, they are just such quality kids.”
Peterson Abiad was impressed when she spoke to Karius during that phone call two years ago.
Her initial impressions of Karius turned out to be true.
“Kayla is a rock star in coaching,” Peterson Abiad said. “She knows the game. She understands it at a very high level. She is very confident in what she wants to teach the team and what she wants them to learn. She is very open to listening to different ideas and concepts and drills and how to make her vision come to light.
“She knows what she wants. She is very, very good at expressing it and explaining it to the players.”
Kate Peterson Abiad will be joined in Indiana by one of her daughters
Peterson Abiad’s family will be separated this season.
Philippe will remain the men’s volleyball coach at UW-Stevens Point.
Mea is a junior at Stevens Point Area Senior High and a member of a talented basketball team that was one of the best D1 squads in the state in 2025-26.
She has made a lot of friends and is surrounded by people who care about her.
Peterson Abiad can’t imagine what it would have been like if her parents had pulled her out of high school before her senior year, and she and her husband weren’t about to do it to their oldest daughter.
As for Remi? She is 10, and she’s about to have the experience of a lifetime.
Remi was far too young to remember her mom as the coach at CSU. She occasionally went with Peterson Abiad to UWGB, but the trips had to be very intentional considering the distance.
Remi loved those visits. The players always showered her with attention.
She met the Fort Wayne players when her mother was introduced as coach this week. She will get the opportunity to be far more involved with this team.
“At first, the idea of that was very sad to her,” Peterson Abiad said about relocating to Indiana. “But within two days, she kept telling me how amazing it was that we were going to move. She was telling all her friends. I think it just had to sink in. We are here right now, and she cannot stop pointing out all the things she loves here.
“She is all-in now. That’s exciting.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: New Purdue Fort Wayne coach Kate Peterson Abiad valued her time at UWGB
Reporting by Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
