The Valparaiso University men’s basketball program has announced the promotion of Peter Funk to a full-time role as Funk will serve as the team’s Director of Basketball Operations.
Funk spent the last two seasons as a graduate assistant on Valpo’s staff and was one of 22 individuals nationally who were named to the TopConnect Graduate Assistant Leadership Academy in December 2020.
Funk began his time with the program as an undergraduate manager from August 2016 to May 2019, when he was elevated to graduate assistant. He served as the head manager from May 2018 to May 2019.
“I feel very blessed and thankful for the opportunity,” Funk said. “Valpo is my home; I love everything about this place. I can’t even put into words how much it means to be able to stay, have an expanded role, and give back more to the program.”
Funk will handle scouting, including facilitation and development of opponent scouting reports. He will organize team travel, create and develop defensive game plans, oversee student-athletes’ academic development, organize daily scheduling of team and staff, oversee student managers and serve as a liaison to other departments within Valpo Athletics including compliance and academic services. He began many of those duties during his time as a graduate assistant and has also created multimedia recruiting content and helped facilitate and organize recruiting materials, visits and presentations.
“Peter is a young man who has taken a lot of pride in the program since the day he stepped foot on campus as a manager his freshman year,” Valpo head coach Matt Lottich said. “He’s very talented and gets a lot of jobs done. He doesn’t need to talk about it, he just does it. As he transitioned into more of a coaching role as a graduate assistant, it became evident that he could be a superstar in this business. Our players like him, and our coaches appreciate how much he takes off their plates. We’re thankful and excited to have him on staff.”
Funk graduated with a master’s degree in sports administration in May 2021 with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. The Cleveland, Ohio native completed his undergraduate degree in Spanish with a minor in communication in just three years while participating in Christ College, Valpo’s honors college. His academic success came while serving as the head manager of the basketball team, the president of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, and as a member of the Student Senate.
“I’ve made so many meaningful relationships at Valpo,” Funk said. “My faith is a big part of my life and faith is a big part of our University. Being a Christian at Valpo makes this a really good fit. I have developed a strong relationship with Coach Lottich and I love working for him. He’s done a lot for me and our entire coaching staff has done a lot for me. I’m excited to keep working with them as we try to do something really special here at Valpo.”
