Rare Air
ADAMS TWP — Dana Petruska's coaching career has spanned five decades. Currently in the seventh year of her second stint with Mars girls basketball, she admits she has thought about life after her days on the bench are over.
"There are times when I think that it's time for me to move on," she said. "Then I take a couple of weeks to myself after the season, get away from it for a while and I miss it."
Whenever she decides to step away, she will take with her an accomplishment very few coaches reach, or even get close to.
With last Tuesday's win over Plum, Petruska reached 500 career coaching victories and now has a career record of 500-305.
"You don't get to that many wins by magic. It takes a lot of hard work," said Mars athletic director Scott Heinauer. "Dana has put in a lot of time and effort and this is a phenomenal achievement. I'm happy for her."
At Mars, where she originally coached 1986-2005 before rejoining the Planets in 2015, Petruska is 389-234. Included is the lone state title in program history, earned with a dramatic postseason run in 2018.
She also led her alma mater, Deer Lakes, to a 111-71 record during an eight-season span 2007-15.
"The scorekeeper at Plum asked me: "Do you know what this means?" and I replied, 'Yeah, I'm getting really old,'" Petruska said with a laugh.
"This speaks to the kids and all the work they've put in. Without that, 500 would never happen."
Petruska starred in volleyball, basketball and softball at Deer Lakes, but had to pick which sport she'd play in college.
"I went to Pitt and the year I graduated from high school, the rule there was athletes could play only one sport. I chose basketball even though it was the hardest one for me.
"I needed that challenge. In basketball, you have to play offense and defense and it forced me to work harder and that helped develop me as a person."
While playing for the Panthers, Petruska had three head coaches in four years — Jean Condo, Pat Wallace and Jean Balthaser.
"I was able to take the positives from all three of them," she said.
After her first run with Mars and before coaching at Deer Lakes, Petruska served as an assistant under Dorothea Epps with Butler's girls team.
"That was a good experience for me and the kids were great," she said. "but as an assistant, you're not in charge. That confirmed for me that I needed to go back to being a head coach."
Mars' run to the state crown four years ago was "very satisfying," according to Petruska, but her greatest satisfaction has come from coaching in general.
"I love getting the most out of the kids, getting them to reach their full potential. That's the biggest joy I get from coaching.
"This year's team (17-5 entering WPIAL playoffs), I didn't think we'd get to 17 wins, but the girls have definitely proved me wrong."
Petruska retired as a physical education teacher at Mars in 2018. She's not yet ready to do the same with her role as a coach and she consistently leads the Planets to the playoffs. In fact, Mars has not missed postseason play since the late 1990s.
"I've been very competitive since a young age," she said, "but the success we've had, it's not about me. It's about the kids and winning as a team."
