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Travis Steele has started patching the holes in his coaching staff by adding a face familiar with the program. Danny Peters, a 34 year old graduate of Ohio State, was an assistant under Sean Miller at Arizona. More importantly than that, he is a longtime friend of Coach Steele’s. Peters attended Lakota East before graduating from New Albany. His father, Dan Peters, was a longtime assistant for UC coach Bob Huggins.
Per Coach Steele in Xavier’s release, “Danny comes to Xavier with a wealth of experience under two tremendous coaches in Sean Miller and James Whitford. I have known Danny since he was a freshman in college, and we have remained very close over the years. He has a tireless work ethic and is a terrific coach. He has one of the best offensive minds in all of college basketball and is also known as a relentless recruiter. He has done a great job of developing guards at both Arizona and Ball State.”
Yes, that does say that Peters has a great offensive mind. Xavier fans who have been frustrated with the play of the team on that end of the floor over the last three years will likely be happy to hear that. Peters himself is now looking forward to adding to his resume the school from each of his previous employers hailed. “Xavier’s excellent winning tradition speaks for itself. At each college basketball program I have been a part of, I have worked alongside a former Musketeer. Each and every one of them speak about the Xavier family in the highest regard. I can’t wait to get started and work with our student-athletes, great staff and Head Coach Travis Steele. Go X!”
As is to be expected for a Steele hire, Peters has a reputation as an excellent recruiter. Zeke Nnaji, now of the Denver Nuggets, credited Peters with getting him to Arizona for the season in which he averaged 16/8/1 before heading to the NBA as a first round pick. Peters himself played for four years at OSU, where his averages of .2/.2/0 were just slightly off the numbers Nnaji put up. Xavier has only a special assistant and strength and conditioning coach left to hire before the staff is back to full operating levels.