ASU makes hiring official

Buzz Peterson had what some might consider a consummate job in the basketball profession -- as director of player personnel, or top talent scout, for an NBA team -- but he yielded to the urge to coach and interact with college players again.

So Peterson will become coach at Appalachian State, again.

"You can't say I don't love Boone and Appalachian State," Peterson said in a teleconference yesterday accompanying the announcement. "It's my third time back."

Peterson's first job in coaching was at Appalachian, as an assistant to Tom Apke for two seasons beginning in 1987. He returned in 1996 to become a head coach for the first time.

Since, he's taken Tulsa to the NIT, coached a big-time program at Tennessee and accepted a challenge at Coastal Carolina before taking a two-year break from coaching and getting a front-office taste of pro basketball with the Charlotte Bobcats.

But Appalachian, and coaching, came calling again.

Charlie Cobb, Appalachian's athletics director, said that he filtered through a lot of candidates to replace Houston Fancher, who was fired on March 16, but that Peterson was the one he wanted from the start.

"We were looking for someone that would energize our fan base, energize our program, somebody who Appalachian meant something to them, and preferably somebody who had been a head coach and a successful head coach," Cobb said.

He found his man in Peterson, and finally landed him after an off-and-on process that lasted six weeks.

As much as Peterson said he wanted to coach again, he said he was sensitive to the fact that Fancher was a close friend as well as his former top assistant at Appalachian.

And Peterson, 45, said he struggled with the decision from a family standpoint. He has three school-age children, including a daughter who will finish high school next year near Charlotte in Union County, and he said he had a great job in the NBA.

He talked to Michael Jordan, his former roommate at North Carolina and part owner of the Bobcats.

"He said, ‘Buzz, I'm never going to stand in your way if you want to coach. I completely understand that's what you want to do,'" Peterson said.

So Peterson decided to take the job, but as the hiring process bogged down, he became a bit frustrated and decided the timing wasn't right. He announced on April 9 that he wouldn't take the Appalachian job.

That was a decision that neither he nor Cobb were completely comfortable with.

"When I did step aside, it was like, ‘Oh boy, did I make a huge mistake?' " Peterson said.

Cobb, looking back, said: "I think I was looking for an answer from him before he was ready."

Cobb continued the search, and interviewed other candidates. He said he came to the conclusion Sunday night that Peterson was still the right person for the job.

"I hadn't spoken to him in about two weeks so I called him Monday and asked if he still had an interest," Cobb said. "I told him I wanted to make this work the second time around."

Peterson, who said he still had a strong desire to return to coaching and Appalachian, jumped.

"It was on the fast track from that moment," said Peterson, who was 79-39 overall and 47-12 in the Southern Conference in four seasons as coach of the Mountaineers.

Cobb said that contract details weren't a major sticking point and that there's nothing out of the ordinary in it.

"Really the only constraint I had was that I wanted to be respectful of what Jerry has done for our program and our university," Cobb said, referring to football coach Jerry Moore.

Peterson will receive an annual salary of $177,500. Moore makes $180,000. Both have incentive bonuses, relating to items such as athletics success and academics performance. Cobb said that a few specifics are still to be worked out, including some tweaking of Moore's contract, but that the total amount will be comparable.

Peterson met with his new team -- which included just one senior last season -- on Tuesday night. That meeting, said Cobb, who wasn't at Appalachian when Peterson was previously there, affirmed that he indeed hired the right guy.

"He has a passion for Appalachian," Cobb said. "You could see in the players' eyes that they were excited."

Peterson said that he wants Matt McMahon, an assistant at Appalachian since 2001 and associate head coach the past five seasons, to remain on the Mountaineers' staff. McMahon played for Peterson on the 1999-2000 Appalachian team that won a Southern Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. He worked for Peterson as a graduate assistant for one season at Tennessee.

"He's done a tremendous job taking over during the time without a head coach," Peterson said. "Everywhere I've gone I've always kept somebody that was there. Matt played for me (at ASU) and he's matured tremendously. He was a walk-on for us and ended up starting for us on the team that went to the NCAA Tournament."

And Peterson said he knows what he wants to accomplish at Appalachian.

"I'd like to restore Appalachian State to its rightful place at the top of the Southern Conference," Peterson said. "We've done it before.…"

■ Tommy Bowman can be reached at 727-7320 or at tbowman@wsjournal.com.