Dana Petruska comes out of retirement to take over as girls basketball coach at Deer Lakes

By: Michael Love
Monday, September 30, 2024 | 6:26 PM

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When Dana Petruska retired from coaching high school girls basketball in the spring of 2023, she thought that probably was it after 35 seasons.

But that lasted just 15 months. Her love of the game and love of coaching keeps her going.

Petruska, who owns a 518-325 career record, will return to the high school bench this winter, and she will do it at her alma mater.

Deer Lakes officially hired the veteran coach a couple of weeks ago, and she returns to the Lancers program for the first times since 2015 when she stepped down to begin a second stint at Mars.

“I coached last season up at Saint Vincent with my son (Bearcats women’s coach Jimmy Petruska) as a volunteer assistant,” said Petruska, who is coaching the Deer Lakes junior high girls with new varsity assistant Heather Lewis in their fall season while preparing to guide the varsity team this winter.

“It was a great experience at Saint Vincent, but it was just too far to travel every day. I don’t know, (coaching) is like my drug, in a good way.”

She again is one of three active WPIAL girls coaches with more than 500 wins.

The others are Neshannock’s Luann Grybowski and North Catholic’s Molly Rottman.

Petruska said she was contacted about the Deer Lakes coaching position by the parent of a former player and was asked if she would consider coming back.

“I decided to apply for it,” said Petruska, who turned 67 in April. “I just want to help. I don’t know how many more years, physically, I will be able to do this. I told Chuck (Bellisario), the (athletic director), that I want to mentor. My goal is to have this program in two years, maybe three, be competitive on a regular level.

“I love challenges. I like it when people say, ‘You can’t do it’ or ‘You won’t be able to do it.’ I am one of those people who will work their butt off until I get it right and get a team and the players to where they need to be.”

Petruska takes over for Sam Salih, who stepped down as Lancers coach after three seasons.

Salih compiled a 17-46 record in his time at Deer Lakes. He led the Lancers to an 8-12 record and the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs in his first year (2021-22).

Petruska said she sees potential in the team to improve after a couple of tough seasons. Deer Lakes went 4-17 last winter and 5-17 in 2022-23.

Deer Lakes, under the new section alignment for Class 3A, will face Avonworth, East Allegheny, Greensburg Central Catholic, Ligonier Valley, Shady Side Academy, South Allegheny and Steel Valley.

“The majority of the (varsity) basketball kids are multi-sport athletes, and they are either playing volleyball, soccer or fall softball,” Petruska said. “But now that we’re into October and the regular season is starting to come to an end, we’ll be able to put some schedules together leading up to the start of the season.

“I did have a couple of open gyms in the summertime, and I was pleasantly surprised at the attendance and how receptive the girls were.”

Petruska was a three-sport standout at Deer Lakes in the early to mid 1970s before playing in college at Pitt.

She returned to Deer Lakes in 2006, guided the Lancers for eight seasons and turned around a program that had struggled to win in the few seasons before her arrival.

Petruska led the Lancers to six trips to the WPIAL playoffs while compiling a 111-71 record through the 2014-15 season.

Her leaving Deer Lakes opened the door for her son, Dave, a 2008 Mars graduate, to take over the program the next season.

Dave Petruska, a varsity assistant to his mother for three years, coached Deer Lakes for six seasons until stepping down after the 2020-21 campaign.

Mom got the better of son in two head-to-head Section 1-3A meetings in 2015-16.

Dana Petruska returned to Mars after having originally coached the girls varsity team from 1986 to 2005.

She won 286 games in her first stint with the Planets before her position was opened after the 2004-05 season.

Petruska captured 121 wins in her return to the program.

Mars went 18-9 in the 2022-23 season and tied for the section title. The Planets reached the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals and the second round of states despite losing a three-year starter to injury in the third game of the year.

Petruska told TribLive at the time of her retirement that the stress of having to deal with consistent and openly critical parents was a main reason for her decision.

“I didn’t want to get out of coaching at that point, but it just got worse and worse,” she said.

In all-state voting, Petruska was named the 2018 Pennsylvania Sports Writers Coach of the Year for Class 5A girls.

She guided the Planets to a 23-6 record that season. After finishing fourth in the WPIAL, Mars made a run through the PIAA tournament and won the state title with a 36-33 victory over District 12 champion Archbishop Wood at Hershey’s Giant Center.

She was inducted later that year into the Mars Athletic Hall of Fame and the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

Her ties to Mars included 21 years as a health and physical education teacher. She retired from teaching six years ago.

This past spring, she was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Deer Lakes