Kansas State Head Basketball Coach Jerome Tang has announced the hiring of Bill Peterson as an assistant coach. It’s a reunion of sorts. Peterson coached alongside Tang while at Baylor from 2017-22 where they helped guide the Bears to the 2021 NCAA Championship.
“Every coach, player, and person associated with K-State basketball will be better because of the addition of Coach Bill Peterson,” Tang said in a news release.
Peterson was Baylor’s director of men’s basketball operations from 2017-19 before spending the next five seasons as special assistant to head coach Scott Drew. Peterson was a part of 167 wins with the Bears and five NCAA Tournament appearances.
He also spent a combined 11 years as a staff member on the Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic (G-League), mentoring over 20 NBA players, including Hall of Famers Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Karl Malone.
Peterson knows talent. And he knows faith. And resilience.
“God has blessed me to have some great opportunities to work with some great people,” Peterson said. “I’ve taken in a lot of knowledge. But more than anything, I’ve learned to be resilient. I tell my girls all the time, and they laugh, I tell stories, and I have an acronym I give them, and it’s, “NNNGU” — Never, Never, Never Give Up. There are going to be ups and downs, there are going to be obstacles, but you just have to keep fighting through them. That’s why God didn’t give us the spirit of fear, but one of power and self-discipline and faith.”
