O’Neill native Jake Peetz coaching for Super Bowl 60
O’Neill native and Seahawks assistant prepares for football’s biggest stage
By Eric McKay
O'NEILL, Neb. — From playing football at one of the smallest levels in Nebraska to calling plays on the sport’s biggest stage, Jake Peetz’s journey has come full circle.
The O’Neill St. Mary’s graduate walked on at the University of Nebraska and spent the last decade working his way up the coaching ranks. Now, Peetz is the passing game coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks as the team prepares for Super Bowl 60.
Peetz’s family remains rooted in O’Neill. His father, Forrest Peetz, said watching his son rise from a scout team player under former Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan to a key contributor on one of the NFL’s top offenses has been inspiring.
“We’re very proud of him,” Forrest Peetz said. “It’s exciting to see someone who grew up in a small north-central Nebraska town, went to a Class D-II high school, and turned out this way. It just shows that if you put your mind to it and work hard, you really can achieve great things.”
Normally, Forrest Peetz and his wife would be in Santa Clara to watch their son coach in person. Instead, they are currently in the South Pacific on a cruise booked two years ago. Still, Forrest Peetz said they were able to make arrangements with the cruise line to watch the game.
“They’re going to broadcast it in the ship’s main theater,” he said. “We’re across the international date line, so the game is actually on Monday for us. They’ll record it and show it later that night, but since a lot of people will be off the ship, we’re going to be able to watch it live.”
Forrest Peetz is a retired attorney in O’Neill. Jake Peetz’s mother also still lives in the community, as does his former high school coach, Darold Schneider.
That means while Super Bowl 60 will be played hundreds of miles away, there will be a small pocket of dedicated Seahawks fans cheering from north-central Nebraska.