Championship Subdivision Football | FCS Football | Stadiums | Blogs | Forums

From the Greensboro News and Record


Buzz Peterson offered App State hoops job
Thursday, April 2


CHARLOTTE (AP) — Nine years after leaving Appalachian State, Buzz Peterson is considering a return.

The Charlotte Bobcats director of player personnel said today he's been offered the coaching job, but hasn't decided whether to accept.

"We are still negotiating," Peterson said.

Peterson spent four seasons at Appalachian before leaving in 2000 for Tulsa. Peterson later coached Tennessee, but was fired in 2005 after four seasons.

He then coached Coastal Carolina for two years before accepting a front office job with the Bobcats offered by part-owner Michael Jordan, Peterson's college roommate at North Carolina.

Peterson would replace Houston Fancher, his former assistant at Appalachian who was promoted when Peterson left. Fancher was ousted last month with one year left on his contract.

"We're not going to comment on any of the candidates," school spokesman Mike Flynn said.

The 45-year-old Peterson went 79-39 in his first stint at Appalachian State. In his last season at the Boone, N.C., school in 1999-2000, the Mountaineers went 23-9, won the Southern Conference title and lost to Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

But Appalachian State's only postseason appearance under Fancher came in the 2007 NIT, and the program fell well behind powerhouse Davidson in the SoCon.

The Mountaineers went 13-18 this season and lost to Davidson in the tournament quarterfinals in Fancher's fifth losing season. He went 137-136 in nine years.

Peterson is 201-134 as a head coach, won the 2001 NIT title at Tulsa, and has name recognition that would help with recruiting.

An Asheville, N.C., native, Peterson beat out Jordan to win North Carolina's high school player of the year award in 1981 before they became teammates with the Tar Heels. They became close friends and roommates and won the national title as freshmen.

The chance to work with Jordan lured him out of coaching in 2007. Peterson has run the Bobcats' scouting department for the past two years and is heavily involved with the NBA draft.

But shortly after taking that job, Peterson refused to say he wouldn't return to the bench.

Appalachian is eager to boost a basketball program that has lagged well behind its powerhouse football team, which won three consecutive Football Championship Subdivision titles before losing in the semifinals last season.



I'm not sure how I feel about this. Buzz was a great fit and brought us our best teams since Bobby Cremins. But he doesn't seem excited about the prospect of going back to Boone.

That would be a good hire - but would the App faithful welcome him back?

dbackjon wrote:That would be a good hire - but would the App faithful welcome him back?

I think we would. I didn't notice any resentment when he left before, he was a young coach who appeared on the rise at the time. The world's kicked him in the ass a few times now and maybe he would settle in more long term in a second go round.

In some ways Boone seems a perfect fit for him. He's from Asheville and his wife is from Mars Hill (about 20 miles from Asheville). They would be close to family, but not too close.

AshevilleApp wrote:

dbackjon wrote:That would be a good hire - but would the App faithful welcome him back?

I think we would. I didn't notice any resentment when he left before, he was a young coach who appeared on the rise at the time. The world's kicked him in the ass a few times now and maybe he would settle in more long term in a second go round.

In some ways Boone seems a perfect fit for him. He's from Asheville and his wife is from Mars Hill (about 20 miles from Asheville). They would be close to family, but not too close.

Agree....he's still a good coach with impressive contacts and now has impressive facilities, which he helped get built with earlier success....If he allows himself, this could be a great long term gig for him and family...ties to the community and will have support even with modest success...hope he accepts, but only if he is done with the moving around for a while......

We'll see what happens. I haven't been too impressed so far with how public he's been about the process. Almost seems like he's bargaining in public. Anyways, I would love to find someone who is on the rise that can be a Mark Few. However, as time passes, it looks like he may be the best fit. I will support whoever CC hires, but if it is Buzz I hope he truly wants to be the coach.

Either way, I hope we start winning some games and at least competing for conference titles.

ASUMountaineer wrote:We'll see what happens. I haven't been too impressed so far with how public he's been about the process. Almost seems like he's bargaining in public. Anyways, I would love to find someone who is on the rise that can be a Mark Few. However, as time passes, it looks like he may be the best fit. I will support whoever CC hires, but if it is Buzz I hope he truly wants to be the coach.

Either way, I hope we start winning some games and at least competing for conference titles.

No doubt...thought he was going to make a decision last Thursday night/Friday morning? The longer this gets drawn out and the more public this process becomes, the less I want him as a coach...you know, we don't need to beg him, he washed out at TN, no other big programs will touch him currently....

Appaholic wrote:

ASUMountaineer wrote:We'll see what happens. I haven't been too impressed so far with how public he's been about the process. Almost seems like he's bargaining in public. Anyways, I would love to find someone who is on the rise that can be a Mark Few. However, as time passes, it looks like he may be the best fit. I will support whoever CC hires, but if it is Buzz I hope he truly wants to be the coach.

Either way, I hope we start winning some games and at least competing for conference titles.

No doubt...thought he was going to make a decision last Thursday night/Friday morning? The longer this gets drawn out and the more public this process becomes, the less I want him as a coach...you know, we don't need to beg him, he washed out at TN, no other big programs will touch him currently....

Exactly. It's interesting to read the MMB and Appfan. It is really divided between Buzz and no Buzz. I am squarely in the no-Buzz corner, not just for how this has played out, but also because I think we can find someone who wants to be here without the baggage.

I am moving to the No-Buzz corner with everyday that passes

appmaj wrote:I am moving to the No-Buzz corner with everyday that passes

So who do you favor?

another day, another no decision and Buzz-stock drop.....

I remember him when he was at CCU...we sucked so much.

Well, the wait is over. NINE days after the Buzz (off) said he would have a decision "tonight or tomorrow morning," he has said he will not be coming to Boone, stating it "wasn't the right time." Good riddance. Quick! Buzz! MJ has another jock for you to carry.

ASUMountaineer wrote:Well, the wait is over. NINE days after the Buzz (off) said he would have a decision "tonight or tomorrow morning," he has said he will not be coming to Boone, stating it "wasn't the right time." Good riddance. Quick! Buzz! MJ has another jock for you to carry.

So now who does ASU turn too?

dbackjon wrote:

ASUMountaineer wrote:Well, the wait is over. NINE days after the Buzz (off) said he would have a decision "tonight or tomorrow morning," he has said he will not be coming to Boone, stating it "wasn't the right time." Good riddance. Quick! Buzz! MJ has another jock for you to carry.

So now who does ASU turn too?

Well, it looks like two are getting a lot of talk in ASU circles, and have been mentioned in local papers as well as possible "Plans Bs." Melvin Watkins, who coached at UNCC and Texas A&M. He's currently an assistant at Missouri (IIRC). Also, Mark Cline who played at Wake Forest and is currently an assistant at Oklahoma. I'm not sure who the best choice is now. I think the committee wanted to land someone with name recognition in the Southeast, and felt Buzz was, not only the best choice, but the most affordable/ attainable.

With that passing, I hope they will do what I had hoped they would all along, and go for someone up and coming who can really pound the pavement and build our program into a strong mid-major with a solid base before jumping on to better paying gigs.

I will admit I don't keep up with Div. II basketball much at all, but someone good there would be excellent. Look at what Brian Kelly (I know--football) did at Grand Valley State, then to Central Michigan, and now Cincinnati. The guy wins everywhere he goes, and he left the Chippewas in a good state. Hopefully, we can find our own Brian Kelly (or Mark Few since we are discussing bball), and go from there. Who knows.

ASUMountaineer wrote:Well, the wait is over. NINE days after the Buzz (off) said he would have a decision "tonight or tomorrow morning," he has said he will not be coming to Boone, stating it "wasn't the right time." Good riddance. Quick! Buzz! MJ has another jock for you to carry.

so true.. ..am officially and permanently off of the BP bandwagon.....

Per the Winston-Salem Journal (the largest paper to assign a beat writer to ASU), Buzz will be named HC on Wednesday morning.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009 ... su/sports/

LMAO at this soap opry

I'd rather had Ed Conroy than Buzz.

ASUGTO wrote:I'd rather had Ed Conroy than Buzz.

Did we ever offer him the job? I have a hard time believing he would have turned down our tender:

• more money than he was making at The Citadel
• an environment more conducive to recruiting very tall African-Americans to play basketball
• a promise that the university, alumni and fans would never collectively or individually issue a fatwa against members of his family or himself

The second and third items make particularly good sense. You don't see a lot of seven-foot-tall soldiers for the same reason no one in their right mind picked Jaws in multiplayer Goldeneye deathmatches – a dude that big makes quite an exceptional target but not much else. Plus you've got that whole welcome-to-Charleston-where-we-used-to-own-lots-of-you-happy-Negroes thing going on. And surprisingly enough, folks at a military school like making death threats against people they don't particularly care for. I'm as shocked as you are.

Of course, the counter-offer would have been pretty compelling as well – "Stay or we will fucking kill you. Here's your raise."

Press release thingie from GoASU.

BOONE, N.C. — Buzz Peterson, who led Appalachian State University men’s basketball to three Southern Conference regular-season championships and an NCAA Tournament appearance from 1996-2000, has returned to Appalachian to once again serve as the school’s men’s basketball head coach.

Peterson led the Mountaineers to a 79-39 record, including a 47-12 mark in SoCon play, in his first four seasons at ASU. His .669 overall winning percentage and .797 winning percentage in conference play are both tops among head coaches in program history (minimum three seasons).

http://www.goasu.com/ViewArticle.dbml?D ... ID=3730372

Yeah, it was a crazy ordeal. But, at least it's over. We'll see how quickly the BUZZ wears off.


Sorry, that was bad.