April 29, 2004

CLEVELAND - Cleveland State head women's basketball coach Kate Peterson filled a large void on her staff when she named Tom Andres her top assistant on Thursday. Andres brings with him 34 years of head coaching experience at the high school level in Wisconsin.

The position had been open since the departure of Al Brown in early January.

"The addition of Tom to our staff is another step in the right direction for the program," Peterson noted. "He has been a major part of building three high school teams into successful programs, where he not only turned the team around, but made a difference in the community.

"The wealth of experience and basketball knowledge Tom brings to Cleveland State will allow him to make an immediate impact. He has the same lofty vision that I have for the program."

Inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002, Andres compiled a 304-210 record as a boys varsity basketball coach from 1976-2000, heading up the programs at River Falls HS, Rhinelander HS and Sauk Prairie HS. In 1997, he led Sauk Prairie to its second consecutive berth in the state finals just a few months prior to being named Wisconsin's High School Principal of the Year.

The superintendent of the Sauk Prairie School District since 2000, he was recently named the 2004 Wisconsin Superintendent of the Year. Forced to give up his head coaching duties while serving as superintendent, he has spent the past two seasons as the assistant varsity girls basketball coach at Sauk Prairie. He has an additional 18 years of experience coaching football and baseball at the high school level.

Andres received his bachelor's from Wisconsin-LaCrosse in 1970, where he played both basketball and baseball. He went on to earn his master's from Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1975, before finishing a specialist degree in educational administration at Wisconsin-Superior in 1992.

He and his wife, Roxeanne have three grown children -- Amy, Mark and Aaron -- who were each Wisconsin Basketball All-Stars.

Peterson directed Cleveland State to a 12-16 overall record in her first season as head coach. The Vikings' 9-7 mark in Horizon League play set a school record for conference victories.