Kansas State University Athletics
Adding a Wealth of Knowledge to the K-State Staff
Apr 30, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Spend a little bit of time with Bill Peterson and you instantly want to become better. That's the first impression of the man. The second impression? With a wealth of knowledge and experience over a 47-year coaching career and boasting a history of mentoring a few of the greatest players in NBA history, Peterson will become a valuable asset as a Kansas State assistant men's basketball coach under Jerome Tang.
Tang announced the hiring of Peterson on Tuesday. 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."
Bill Peterson spoke with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen after his hiring about his career journey and excitement to be reunited with K-State head coach Jerome Tang as they help build a consistent winner in 2025-26.
D. Scott Fritchen: When you think of Jerome Tang, what first comes to mind?
Bill Peterson: His great faith and his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his passion for the game of basketball and how much he cares about the kids.
Fritchen: When you were on the coaching staff with Coach Tang at Baylor, exactly what kind of chemistry did you two possess?
Peterson: In the beginning, it was just OK, and probably after a year and a half at Baylor, Jerome and I got to be really, really close. He'd come into my office a lot of times and ask for ideas on defense and player development. Sometimes we'd disagree, and we got to be really close. Sometimes we'd just say, "Hey, I don't believe that, and you don't believe that, either, so we're going to agree to disagree." When we got to that point, it really helped our growth. I saw him grow tremendously as a person and as a coach. I grew also just because we weren't afraid to share our true feelings. There was no hiding. We'd go at each other back and forth, and he'd come into my office every morning with his cup of coffee and sit on my couch and sometimes we'd talk for an hour. Those were times I really, really enjoyed. I knew he'd be a really good head coach one day, and he just kept growing and learning and the opportunity came about at Kansas State. It was almost like we went through the wars together and we grew and got tougher and more savvy out of it.
Fritchen: Obviously, the first year resulted in an Elite Eight at K-State, and this past season had its challenges. What makes Jerome Tang such an effective coach?
Peterson: His ability to be resilient and to bounce back and not listen to distractions and what other people say and his ability to say, "What's the problem? What's the issue?" We always said at Baylor, "Keep the main thing the main thing." So many times, in coaching you get off track a little bit. Everybody says that you have to do this, and you have to do that. You have to focus on a couple really, really important things and keep them at a high level so you can be successful. He's learned to do that. He's learned to bounce back and overcome and be resilient. I have no doubt he's going to have the team rebound and be right there to get into the NCAA Tournament this year.
Fritchen: When was your first contact with Jerome Tang regarding this coaching opportunity and can you describe the decision-making process in deciding to jump on board with the Wildcats?
Peterson: He called me as soon as my season was over (at the University of Denver) and said, "Hey, I want you to come down and spend some time with my players and some of my coaches." He said, "I know we know each other really well, and God has blessed you with the specialty of player development and teaching them and watching film with them and building a relationship with them." I spent 11 years in the NBA doing that — two with the Mavs and six with the Bucks and three with the Magic. He just said, "I want you to come down and be around my players and work them out and be with these coaches and talk to them." Then I met with him at the Final Four. We had lunch together. He said, "You know, I think I want to do more than that. Would you be interested in joining my staff?" That's when we started talking about it.
Obviously, I was very, very excited about it because I know him and I trust him, and I know how he's going to be every day. I'm kind of the same way. I love working with young guys and I love pouring into them. I'm an older guy that's been around a lot. I see guys and go, "How can I help him be a better player? How can I help his growth as a person? How can I help him spiritually?" I love spending time with young guys and young coaches. I believe he saw a benefit to that to his staff. We talked a little more, and about two weeks ago he brought me in for an interview and I visited with some of the other staff members. I felt very comfortable.
I know some of the people already here. I worked with Jerome, I worked with Austin Carpenter at Baylor, and I know Marco Borne pretty well because he used to work our camps, I did not know Anthony Winchester, Rodney Perry and Jareem Dowling at all, but they've been great to me. I'm excited about the opportunity.
Fritchen: You mentored over 20 NBA players, including Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Karl Malone. What was that experience like?
Peterson: It was great. I was really blessed. At Louisiana Tech, the second year I was there we got this big kid named Karl Malone. He wasn't eligible, so somebody had to work him out and be with him, and at that time I was 24 and still playing basketball a lot. I put together an independent team and we played every weekend in the fall. Karl Malone was on my team. We went to little gyms all over Louisiana, and there'd be a thousand people there on Saturday nights to watch us play. We only lost one game to the Grambling football team with Doug Williams the quarterback and some great players.
Don Nelson was with the Mavericks, and it was the lockout in 1999-2000. He asked me, "Why don't you be our player development guy? We just drafted a young kid from Germany, and he needs an older guy. I don't want a young guy with him." I prayed about it and talked to my wife and left my job at semester break. All my life I dreamed of being in the NBA. I spent hours and hours with Dirk that first year. As much as I was in the gym, Steve Nash was right there with me. I spent a lot of hours with him. I could tell he was going to take off. The next year Dirk blossomed.
Fritchen: How did you go about landing a position with Scott Drew at Baylor?
Peterson: A friend of mine knew Scott Drew and brought me in. He said, "I want you to be my special assistant and be around some of my young guys. It'd be a great opportunity." He loved the game, loved kids, and had great faith in the good Lord. It was a great seven years. We won the NCAA Championship together and were in the NCAA Tournament every year but the first. Last year, I went to the University of Denver. My two daughters live in Denver, and I hadn't been around them in 25 years, and it was a good opportunity for me to get around them. One of them is getting married in December. It was great. But when Jerome approached me about K-State, I thought, "This is awesome." I'm really, really excited to be here. I know the Big 12 really well after being at Baylor for seven years. I've been blessed to coach a lot of really good players and teach a lot of guys. I'm excited to work with the guys we have now and the guys coming in.
Fritchen: What do you think about when you hear, "Kansas State basketball?"
Peterson: Rich tradition, Jack Hartman, Lon Kruger, Mitch Richmond, Rolando Blackman. Just some great players they had and all the success they've had. Obviously, K-State was pretty good under Bruce Weber. There have been some great coaches here and some great players. I've been fortunate to see from a distance and know a couple guys. When I was at McNeese State a long time ago, Don Nelson called me to come up to work his dad's basketball camp. I worked with Tim Hardaway, who played for the Warriors, and got to be around Mitch Richmond, too. When I was with the Mavericks when Dirk was there, I met Rolando Blackman and got to hang out with him a little bit. He was doing radio when I was down there. I know both of those guys had tremendous careers at Kansas State and won a lot of games for them.
Fritchen: Exactly how have you seen the game of college basketball change in the last few years, and what are some of the challenges facing coaches and programs today?
Peterson: Obviously, now you're paying the players. That's a little different. I told Jerome when I talked with him, when I was in the NBA with Scott Skiles, he'd always call me in there in the offseason and say, "Bill, players want two things: they want to play more, and they want to make more money," because that's their life for a short period of time. Most guys don't play more than two or three years in the NBA and that's it. So, they have a great opportunity to make money, and a lot of it, but they have to get better. He always said, "If you can get them better and help get them more money, they're probably going to listen to you." Now that philosophy has filtered down to college. Guys want to play and make money and move on.
The one thing eventually – and hopefully will get changed – is that there will be some type of buyout. It's the only sport in the world where at the end of the season everybody is a free agent. It doesn't work like that in pro basketball or pro football. Now that people are getting paid there has to be some type of contract that says, "These are the parameters, and this is what we're doing." If you did it like that in the NBA, the NBA would be a mess. People would be leaving all the time. You want to have more continuity to it. Eventually, they'll figure it out and figure out a way to do it like that. It has changed that way, but you're still leading kids, too, and you teach them and listen to them and help them get better. I'm excited for that opportunity here.
Fritchen: What are your thoughts on the strength of the Big 12 Conference in the realm of college hoops?
Peterson: Man, it's one of the best. When I was at Baylor, three years in a row we had a team in the championship game and the Final Four. Obviously, the depth of it was great. There were only 10 teams. We talked at Baylor that seven out of 10 would go to the NCAA Tournament because the league was so strong. Now it's changed and has added and grown. It's still really good at the top and there are really good teams in the middle and there are a lot of teams in the league, so it makes for a very, very competitive league season. The Big 12 is one of those leagues where a team could finish fourth or fifth and win the national championship because there are so many good teams that are out there.
Fritchen: What have you learned most about yourself during your journey?
Peterson: God has blessed me to have some great opportunities to work with some great people. 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. You've just got to keep moving through it. You're always going to have issues. I've been really blessed. I tell people all the time when I talk that I've been fired six times and it doesn't mean I'm not good at what I do, it means God has someplace else for me to go. So many times, guys have a hard time, or something doesn't go their way, or they don't play, or they have an injury, or something happens at home, and they get down, and mentally they give in. That's the time you need to step up and realize when you go through the wars, that's what makes you tough and that's what makes you resilient and that's what eventually helps you to become a champion.
Spend a little bit of time with Bill Peterson and you instantly want to become better. That's the first impression of the man. The second impression? With a wealth of knowledge and experience over a 47-year coaching career and boasting a history of mentoring a few of the greatest players in NBA history, Peterson will become a valuable asset as a Kansas State assistant men's basketball coach under Jerome Tang.
Tang announced the hiring of Peterson on Tuesday. 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."
Bill Peterson spoke with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen after his hiring about his career journey and excitement to be reunited with K-State head coach Jerome Tang as they help build a consistent winner in 2025-26.
D. Scott Fritchen: When you think of Jerome Tang, what first comes to mind?
Bill Peterson: His great faith and his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his passion for the game of basketball and how much he cares about the kids.
Fritchen: When you were on the coaching staff with Coach Tang at Baylor, exactly what kind of chemistry did you two possess?
Peterson: In the beginning, it was just OK, and probably after a year and a half at Baylor, Jerome and I got to be really, really close. He'd come into my office a lot of times and ask for ideas on defense and player development. Sometimes we'd disagree, and we got to be really close. Sometimes we'd just say, "Hey, I don't believe that, and you don't believe that, either, so we're going to agree to disagree." When we got to that point, it really helped our growth. I saw him grow tremendously as a person and as a coach. I grew also just because we weren't afraid to share our true feelings. There was no hiding. We'd go at each other back and forth, and he'd come into my office every morning with his cup of coffee and sit on my couch and sometimes we'd talk for an hour. Those were times I really, really enjoyed. I knew he'd be a really good head coach one day, and he just kept growing and learning and the opportunity came about at Kansas State. It was almost like we went through the wars together and we grew and got tougher and more savvy out of it.
Fritchen: Obviously, the first year resulted in an Elite Eight at K-State, and this past season had its challenges. What makes Jerome Tang such an effective coach?
Peterson: His ability to be resilient and to bounce back and not listen to distractions and what other people say and his ability to say, "What's the problem? What's the issue?" We always said at Baylor, "Keep the main thing the main thing." So many times, in coaching you get off track a little bit. Everybody says that you have to do this, and you have to do that. You have to focus on a couple really, really important things and keep them at a high level so you can be successful. He's learned to do that. He's learned to bounce back and overcome and be resilient. I have no doubt he's going to have the team rebound and be right there to get into the NCAA Tournament this year.
Fritchen: When was your first contact with Jerome Tang regarding this coaching opportunity and can you describe the decision-making process in deciding to jump on board with the Wildcats?
Peterson: He called me as soon as my season was over (at the University of Denver) and said, "Hey, I want you to come down and spend some time with my players and some of my coaches." He said, "I know we know each other really well, and God has blessed you with the specialty of player development and teaching them and watching film with them and building a relationship with them." I spent 11 years in the NBA doing that — two with the Mavs and six with the Bucks and three with the Magic. He just said, "I want you to come down and be around my players and work them out and be with these coaches and talk to them." Then I met with him at the Final Four. We had lunch together. He said, "You know, I think I want to do more than that. Would you be interested in joining my staff?" That's when we started talking about it.
Obviously, I was very, very excited about it because I know him and I trust him, and I know how he's going to be every day. I'm kind of the same way. I love working with young guys and I love pouring into them. I'm an older guy that's been around a lot. I see guys and go, "How can I help him be a better player? How can I help his growth as a person? How can I help him spiritually?" I love spending time with young guys and young coaches. I believe he saw a benefit to that to his staff. We talked a little more, and about two weeks ago he brought me in for an interview and I visited with some of the other staff members. I felt very comfortable.
I know some of the people already here. I worked with Jerome, I worked with Austin Carpenter at Baylor, and I know Marco Borne pretty well because he used to work our camps, I did not know Anthony Winchester, Rodney Perry and Jareem Dowling at all, but they've been great to me. I'm excited about the opportunity.
Fritchen: You mentored over 20 NBA players, including Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Karl Malone. What was that experience like?
Peterson: It was great. I was really blessed. At Louisiana Tech, the second year I was there we got this big kid named Karl Malone. He wasn't eligible, so somebody had to work him out and be with him, and at that time I was 24 and still playing basketball a lot. I put together an independent team and we played every weekend in the fall. Karl Malone was on my team. We went to little gyms all over Louisiana, and there'd be a thousand people there on Saturday nights to watch us play. We only lost one game to the Grambling football team with Doug Williams the quarterback and some great players.
Don Nelson was with the Mavericks, and it was the lockout in 1999-2000. He asked me, "Why don't you be our player development guy? We just drafted a young kid from Germany, and he needs an older guy. I don't want a young guy with him." I prayed about it and talked to my wife and left my job at semester break. All my life I dreamed of being in the NBA. I spent hours and hours with Dirk that first year. As much as I was in the gym, Steve Nash was right there with me. I spent a lot of hours with him. I could tell he was going to take off. The next year Dirk blossomed.
Fritchen: How did you go about landing a position with Scott Drew at Baylor?
Peterson: A friend of mine knew Scott Drew and brought me in. He said, "I want you to be my special assistant and be around some of my young guys. It'd be a great opportunity." He loved the game, loved kids, and had great faith in the good Lord. It was a great seven years. We won the NCAA Championship together and were in the NCAA Tournament every year but the first. Last year, I went to the University of Denver. My two daughters live in Denver, and I hadn't been around them in 25 years, and it was a good opportunity for me to get around them. One of them is getting married in December. It was great. But when Jerome approached me about K-State, I thought, "This is awesome." I'm really, really excited to be here. I know the Big 12 really well after being at Baylor for seven years. I've been blessed to coach a lot of really good players and teach a lot of guys. I'm excited to work with the guys we have now and the guys coming in.
Fritchen: What do you think about when you hear, "Kansas State basketball?"
Peterson: Rich tradition, Jack Hartman, Lon Kruger, Mitch Richmond, Rolando Blackman. Just some great players they had and all the success they've had. Obviously, K-State was pretty good under Bruce Weber. There have been some great coaches here and some great players. I've been fortunate to see from a distance and know a couple guys. When I was at McNeese State a long time ago, Don Nelson called me to come up to work his dad's basketball camp. I worked with Tim Hardaway, who played for the Warriors, and got to be around Mitch Richmond, too. When I was with the Mavericks when Dirk was there, I met Rolando Blackman and got to hang out with him a little bit. He was doing radio when I was down there. I know both of those guys had tremendous careers at Kansas State and won a lot of games for them.
Fritchen: Exactly how have you seen the game of college basketball change in the last few years, and what are some of the challenges facing coaches and programs today?
Peterson: Obviously, now you're paying the players. That's a little different. I told Jerome when I talked with him, when I was in the NBA with Scott Skiles, he'd always call me in there in the offseason and say, "Bill, players want two things: they want to play more, and they want to make more money," because that's their life for a short period of time. Most guys don't play more than two or three years in the NBA and that's it. So, they have a great opportunity to make money, and a lot of it, but they have to get better. He always said, "If you can get them better and help get them more money, they're probably going to listen to you." Now that philosophy has filtered down to college. Guys want to play and make money and move on.
The one thing eventually – and hopefully will get changed – is that there will be some type of buyout. It's the only sport in the world where at the end of the season everybody is a free agent. It doesn't work like that in pro basketball or pro football. Now that people are getting paid there has to be some type of contract that says, "These are the parameters, and this is what we're doing." If you did it like that in the NBA, the NBA would be a mess. People would be leaving all the time. You want to have more continuity to it. Eventually, they'll figure it out and figure out a way to do it like that. It has changed that way, but you're still leading kids, too, and you teach them and listen to them and help them get better. I'm excited for that opportunity here.
Fritchen: What are your thoughts on the strength of the Big 12 Conference in the realm of college hoops?
Peterson: Man, it's one of the best. When I was at Baylor, three years in a row we had a team in the championship game and the Final Four. Obviously, the depth of it was great. There were only 10 teams. We talked at Baylor that seven out of 10 would go to the NCAA Tournament because the league was so strong. Now it's changed and has added and grown. It's still really good at the top and there are really good teams in the middle and there are a lot of teams in the league, so it makes for a very, very competitive league season. The Big 12 is one of those leagues where a team could finish fourth or fifth and win the national championship because there are so many good teams that are out there.
Fritchen: What have you learned most about yourself during your journey?
Peterson: God has blessed me to have some great opportunities to work with some great people. 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. You've just got to keep moving through it. You're always going to have issues. I've been really blessed. I tell people all the time when I talk that I've been fired six times and it doesn't mean I'm not good at what I do, it means God has someplace else for me to go. So many times, guys have a hard time, or something doesn't go their way, or they don't play, or they have an injury, or something happens at home, and they get down, and mentally they give in. That's the time you need to step up and realize when you go through the wars, that's what makes you tough and that's what makes you resilient and that's what eventually helps you to become a champion.
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