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Buzz Peterson tries to win with dignity

by Tony Basilio

It was refreshing to see University of Tennessee basketball Coach Buzz Peterson engulf his wife Jan in a joyous bear hug on the floor of the Tommy Bowl after Tennessee's nail-biting 65-63 win over the Florida Gators Saturday. It was a win Peterson needed badly, and UT's victory offered solid evidence that sometimes good things do happen to good people.

At times, Peterson's brief tenure at UT has seemed like an empirical delving into the validity of Murphy's Law, with loads of supporting data in the form of last-second losses, barely-missed opportunities, and other assorted heart-rending phenomena. And Saturday's game seemed to set the stage for yet one more such instance, with UT up by two in the closing seconds, and the ball in the hands of Florida's Lee Humphrey, a former Tennessean. You may remember that Peterson was roundly criticized for not signing Humphrey, a 2003 Maryville High School product who is now a Gator freshman.

With Gator sharpshooter Anthony Peterson on the bench, the last long-range shot fell to the spurned local boy with something to prove. His three-point try could win the game for Florida, and hand a downtrodden Vols squad its fifth straight loss. They say God has a sense of humor, but after consecutive close losses to Kentucky and Louisville, Vol faithful could find little to laugh about yet another soul-crushing defeat.

But something happened on the way to Heartbreak City. Humphrey's final prayer clanged harmlessly off the rim, and Tennessee fans erupted in celebration. None were celebrating more joyously than Coach Buzz.

I think it's important that fans who truly care about Tennessee basketball root for Peterson; he's the kind of coach—and the kind of man—the program has long needed: a decent, moral Everyman coaching the game he loves. He's of a breed all too rare in the coaching profession these days—he is a real person. Not a self-promoter. Not a phony. Not a con. With Peterson, what you see is what you get.

Maybe you remember Jerry Green, the guy he succeeded. Green won a lot of games in his brief tenure, but those wins came at a high price. He inherited a program loaded with talent and instilled with a modicum of discipline under previous Coach Kevin O'Neill. He left with the cupboard bare, and the team in disarray. Even when the team won, there was never a sense that fans identified with or even cared about the product on the floor. There was never a sense that either coach or players cared about us or about this place. Jerry Green was a study in apathy; he didn't care, and we took the cue.

Buzz Peterson is the anti-Green; he's passion personified. He cares about UT, and he cares about the young men who play for him. Remember when Scooter McFadgon transferred from Memphis last year, raw and unrefined? As a redshirt, McFadgon showed up for a game dressed in jeans.

"I said, 'You're not going to sit on our bench dressed like that,'" Peterson would later tell the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I said, 'If you're going to sit here with us, you're going to have to get dressed up.' He said 'But Coach, I don't have anything.' I said, 'Then you're going to have to go home to Memphis and get you some clothes or something.' He's learned a lot since then."

Now not only is McFadgon flourishing as a basketball player—he's currently the SEC's leading scorer—but more importantly, he's learning valuable lessons that will help him score later in life. Contrast his transformation with the devolution of Green-era product Tony Harris, who spent his entire career at UT charging off the bench decked out like an extra from an MTV set, then finished his career under the cloud of an assault investigation. A classic track on Jerry Green's greatest hits.

I don't mean to fawn; Peterson needs to start winning. He's coaching at a school with a $65 million athletic budget in one of the top leagues in America. And over the next two years, the state of Tennessee will produce more top-notch basketball recruits than at any time in its history. This is make-or-break time, and Peterson knows it.

"We have to recruit guys who are better leaders and guys with a better basketball IQ," he said on a recent edition of my radio program. "Somewhere along the way what I tell them doesn't translate onto the floor."

Coach Buzz needs many more wins like last week's Florida game. Those of you who read my column or listen to me on the radio know that I am not one of the home-team sycophants who inhabit so much of the sports media nowadays. But I have to admit that I, for one, am pulling for Peterson. It would be great to see it happen for the right man, for a change—for a good guy, trying to do the right things the right way. This one deserves our support.

Tune in and talk sports with "The Tony Basilio Show" each weekday from 3-6 p.m. on the network (670 WMTY-AM, 850 WKVL-AM, 1140 WLOD-AM, 1290 WATO-AM, or 1400 WGAP-AM).