Matthew Peterson is ready to take on new challenges as football coach at Saginaw Heritage.

The team has been 2-7 and 3-6 the past two years.

Peterson the last four years was coaching at Midland Dow as an assistant coach.

But the opportunity at Heritage was too much to pass up.

“I’ve always wanted to be a head coach,” he said. “I felt it was the right next step for me. I applied to two other schools. One thing led to another and they offered me a job. I felt it was the right time to take it.”

Peterson took the job in January. He is only coaching at Heritage.

The kids want to be comfortable with the coaching staff and know the expectations,” he said. “The No. 1 priority is establishing relationships with the kids, giving them clear expectations on how things are supposed to be done and what we’re expecting from them work wise and stuff like that.”

Peterson indicated he’s not making a “lot” of changes.

“Defense will be very similar to what they ran last year,” Peterson said. “The offense will be different. It will be little changes, not major ones.”

He anticipates between 40 and 45 varsity players.

“We definitely want to win some games,” Pererson said. “We want to focus on getting better every single game and see where it takes us I want to get getter every game. If we worry about ourselves, we’ll make some progress.”