Bob Peters

Robert H. "Bob" Peters is a retired men's ice hockey coach. He was the head coach of the Bemidji State University ice hockey team from 1967 to 2001. With 744 wins, he ranks fifth all-time in career wins by a men's college ice hockey coach.

Coaching history

Peters entered the college hockey head coaching ranks in 1964 as bench boss at the University of North Dakota. During his initial campaign, Peters, the eventual Western Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year, led the Fighting Sioux to a WCHA title and a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. He coached in Grand Forks for two seasons, leading the Sioux to a 42–20–1 mark before making a career decision that would change the face of collegiate hockey.

Peters left the Division I powerhouse in 1966 and took over at Bemidji State University. Within two seasons Peters led BSU to its first national championship and set the foundation for what would become one of the most dominant programs in college hockey.

Thirty-five years later, Peters retired from coaching with one of the most impressive lists of achievements in the history of collegiate sports: 744 victories as a head coach, 702 coming at Bemidji State alone, to make Peters the first coach to win 700 or more games at a single school; 13 small-college national championships; and still-standing national collegiate records for most wins in an unbeaten season (31–0–0 in 1983–’84) and longest unbeaten streak (43 games from Nov. 8, 1983 to Jan. 1, 1985).