Editor’s Note: On Aug. 1, Sports Editor Caleb Joshua Heffron sat down with recently hired head coach Austin Peters to discuss his background and future plans for the Taylor Trojans men’s basketball team.
Coach Peters is entering his first head coaching role and brings with him a wealth of coaching experience. Armed with knowledge of every side of the game — offensive, defense, recruiting and player development — Peters has already begun to use his skill set to integrate himself into the Trojan’s environment.
Caleb Joshua Heffron: What was your path to the world of coaching?
Austin Peters: I got on as a graduate assistant at Valparaiso in Northwest Indiana. My brother was a really good player there, he’s the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, so I got connected to the coaching staff through him, and they offered me a job to be a grad assistant there for a couple years.
After I left there, I went out to a Division III school in Virginia, Shenandoah University, for three years and then came back to coach at Olivet (Nazarene), my alma mater for two years and then after my two years there, I went out to Arizona Christian University for the last two years. That’s where I was before I came to Taylor.
Heffron: How has your experience at ACU prepared you to take on this head coaching job here at Taylor?
Peters:Yeah, the level that Arizona Christian has competed at over the last five, six years, has been at the top of the NAIA. We were ranked number one in the country when I was there my first year for seven weeks. We went to an Elite Eight, went to a Sweet 16 the following year, won our conference both years, and the conference tournament my second year.
We had a ton of success. So I think just learning from (ACU head coach Jeff Rutter) who has sustained success at one of the most successful programs in the country, and just learning from him day in and day out with what it means to run a basketball program at that level.
Heffron: How should fans expect the Trojans to play next season?
Peters: I hope that when people watch Taylor, they think three things; one, that we're tough, second, we're smart, and then third, we're unselfish. Those are the three things that we preach to our guys every day.
Heffron: What are some of your goals this season for the team?
Peters: Our goal is going to sound really simple, and cheesy and cliche. The goal is we need to get better. Get better in practice, get better in games, get better in pretty much everything we do. That’s kind of been my message throughout the summer to our guys.
Our focus isn't on winning a certain amount of games. Our focus isn't on winning our conference or finishing a certain place in our conference. Our focus is, we're going to get better every single day and maximize each day what we need to do in order to get better. We’re zeroed in on that and the process of getting better every day; the results that we want will come.
Heffron: How do you see the Christian walk implemented in your team?
Peters: Who I am, who is my on staff, and who we are as people and how we live every day. That's going to be our main ministry, that's our main platform, that's our main way of communicating to our guys. Our faith is in how we speak to them, how we treat them, how we interact with them on a day to day basis.
The Trojans will open their year against the La Sierra Golden Eagles on October 25th in Glendale, AZ.
To read more about Coach Peters’ arrival to Taylor, please visit theechonews.com.
