Lynx Coach, Wolves Analyst Jim Petersen Staying In Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- You've known him as the television analyst for the Timberwolves since 2003 and the assistant coach for the three-time WNBA champion Lynx since 2008. Jim Petersen could have had a very different job this season.

Petersen could be an WNBA head coach right now if he wanted to be. Petersen was offered the Connecticut Sun job this offseason, but turned it down to stay in Minnesota.

"It was a difficult decision," he said. "I look at the Connecticut job, it's probably the best job in the league, other than Minnesota.

"They've got one of the best young rosters in the league. They are an up and coming team. What they've been able to do there from a roster standpoint is kind of the same as what the Minnesota Timberwolves have been able to build with their young roster."

That's an awful lot to turn down. But the thing is, Petersen felt like he'd be giving up even more by leaving.

"If I was going to take that job I would have needed to probably cut out about 20 to 25 Timberwolves games in order to do the job," Petersen said.

"I'm really lucky to have two jobs that I love. So at the end of the day it became lifestyle. Did I want to give up my Wolves gig, and do I want to leave the Minnesota Lynx?"

Petersen says he'll never say never, but he knows now it would take a lot to leave.

"To be able to take my package with Fox, and my package with the Lynx, and try to beat that, it's a pretty hard package to beat," he said.

"I'd have to become almost one of the highest-paid coaches in the league for them to be able to make it worth my while to want to do it. So if they want to do that, I'd be happy to do it, but until that happens, I'm really happy where I'm at."