Peter Stuursma
Peter Stuursma has been the head football coach at Hope College for 7 seasons with a 54-17 record. He has 5 full-time and 7 part-time coaches that work with him. This past season there were 124 players on the roster.
Their 2024 season record was 11-1. The one loss came in the national championship playoffs against North Central, the 2024 national champion.
Coach Stuursma says the team practices daily throughout the season and everyone knows their goal. During a game, every play is designed to score. He says during a game "I just call timeouts".
Division 3 players are involved in a sport because they love to play, but after college, they do really great things. "Leadership is difficult, serving is challenging", but this is what is expected of the team. Leadership takes time and work. You need friends who will be honest in their critiques. Leaders deal with
- Grief and loss
- Anxiety, depression, mental health
- Disappointment
- Injury
- Family Dynamics
- Finances
- Adversity and Mistakes
The team slogan for the past season was "Show Up!".
Peter also believes that culture matters. His players are expected to say thank you, to introduce themselves, and to serve others. When the team arrives on campus, the upperclassmen are expected to serve by helping the freshmen move into the dorms.
.png)
