(03-19-2014 05:33 PM)AppfanInCAAland Wrote:  

(03-19-2014 05:07 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  

(03-19-2014 04:29 PM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  Not to derail this thread, but what is up with Buzz Peterson's relationship with App? Its like he comes and goes at will.

I'll keep it short.

Peterson became head coach in 1996 after Tom Apke. He guided App to the top of the SoCon in short-order. He thought about leaving in 1999 and temporarily took the job at SE Missouri St, but reconsidered the next morning. In 2000, App won the SoCon and went to the NCAA's for the second time ever. Shortly after, top player Rufus Leach drowned in Watauga Lake and the next week, Buzz took the job at Tulsa, which rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. After winning the NIT in his first year at Tulsa, he then went to Tennessee, where he was there for 4-5 years until being replaced by Bruce Pearl.

Buzz moved around. He had a short stint at Coastal Carolina, but then resigned to work in the Bobcats front office with his North Carolina roommate Michael Jordan. When App bought out Houston Fancher (Buzz' replacement who had a mess of a situation fall in his lap in 2000) in 2009, AD Cobb (who wasn't around in 2000) wanted Buzz and offered him more and more money until he took the job at 250k a year. Peterson said he wanted to retire at App. He took that team to a 24-11 record, the SoCon finals and the CIT semis, so on the surface everything looked good. However his family stayed in Charlotte and Buzz commuted to a Boone apartment for the year, going back and forth all the time so it was known Buzz always had an eye out for a raise.

Buzz's wife Janice HATED Boone and never wanted to go back. It didn't help that the 2009-10 winter was one of the roughest on record. She's an elitist who likes being in high social circles and maintaining a certain lifestyle.

This resulted in at one point Buzz having mortgages in Knoxville, Conway and Charlotte at the same time. Plus a car dealership in Myrtle Beach that he invested in bottomed out so the money he made through his Tennessee tenure was gone.

Soon after the 2009-10 season, it was reported he was interviewing at Marshall, which he denied. Then on a Friday, he accepted the job at UNCW out of the blue for about a 200k a year raise, left a message on Cobb's answering machine at 7:30 am and drove down to Wilmington. Janice told me to my face that she was the reason he took the UNCW job. Judging by the fact that he added another mortgage in Wrightsville Beach, she was pulling more of the strings.

Another facet is that after he left App in 2000 and 2010, neither one of his recruiting classes panned out. Fancher had a mess of a program after Rufus Leach died with defections, disciplining players who had grown entitled under Buzz and with the "five and eight" rule at the time, it made the team very short-handed for the next year and going forward. None of the 2010 class stuck around long as Capel turned the team over pretty quickly.

Since I never followed behind the scenes stuff, now what was the deal with Fancher. He seemed to be inconsistent but overall seemed to handle things pretty well. He built what I think was the best App team in the 20 years I've followed them - the NIT team that had a pretty legit shot at an at-large bid.

TDog was right on the Buzz stuff with one exception. The car dealership was a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep outfit in West Jefferson. I really enjoyed listening to all the know it all's when Buzz took the job the second time around. All the talk of him being App basketball's version of Jerry Moore was laughable. I've known the guy a long time, played a lot of golf with him and talking to him the entire time Mark Harrell and Jimmy Deal were pushing him to come back. Buzz turned the job down 3 times, mostly out of respect for Houston.

People tend to forget Buzz made some pretty harsh comments about App when Houston was forced out. Buzz told me Chancellor Peacock called and scolded him for saying negative things about the program when he was the choice to replace Houston. That was the first time Buzz said no. Buzz told me they kept pushing and upping the ante until he made what he thought were demands App would never accept. With the financial support of a local land developer and attorney Cobb said yes. It was a marriage that never going to last. Buzz was looking for a way out before the ink was dry on the contract. All that talk about him wanting his daughter to stay in Charlotte and graduate was just a convenient excuse. Jan was never going to move back to Boone and Buzz was going to be history the next season. He told me had the UNCW deal not come through he was headed back to work for MJ and the Bobcats.

A lot of App fans hate Buzz. They need to turn that anger at the guys who literally backed Buzz into a corner and forced him to come to App.