Dan Peters dies of cancer

Staff report

Broadcaster John Caparanis remembers basketball coach Dan Peters as being “fun to work with” during his stint with Youngstown State University two decades ago.

“He made it fun for everyone around him, from players to coaches to support staff,” Caparanis said of Peters, who on Monday died after an almost year-long fight against pancreatic cancer. “He was humble, very family oriented and one great coach.”

Peters was 60.

The Cleveland native coached the Penguins from 1993-99 and was the Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year in 1998.

“He was certainly one of the very best coaches YSU has ever had in any sport, was definitely one of the nicest and those two don’t necessarily go hand in hand at any level,” said Dan Wathen, the retired YSU head athletic trainer.

Peters also had been a head coach at Walsh and an assistant at Cincinnati and Ohio State.

Most recently, Peters was director of basketball operations at Akron.

“He was kind, appreciative and it was a shame that we weren’t able to keep him around,” said Ed Strauss. YSU videographer. “He was class both on and off the court.”

Last December, Peters took a leave of absence from the Zips program when his cancer was diagnosed.

“Having worked with seven head basketball coaches during my tenure at Youngstown State, I have had the opportunity to develop relationships with several coaches and their families,” said John Doneyko, YSU’s head athletic trainer. “Dan was always a genuine person, not just a basketball coach.

“He was always fair and respectful to his players, assistants and support staff,” Doneyko said. “Dan encouraged relationship and demonstrated this by the way he acted toward everyone.

“We were always welcomed into his office and into the Peters home,” he said.

“Our sympathy goes out to his wife, Nancy, sons Danny and Michael as well as his sister Margaret and parents.”

Peters had a 30-year coaching career. He left Youngstown State in 1999 to join Bob Huggins’ staff at the University of Cincinnati.

“Dan Peters was the person that turned our basketball program around,” said Joe Malmisur, the former YSU athletic director who hired Peters. “He came to us with the highest recommendation from Bobby Knight and he more than fulfilled that recommendation.

“He enjoyed success everywhere he went and had he stayed, would have taken us where we wanted to be basketball-wise,” Malmisur said.

“I’m happy with the way Coach [Jerry] Slocum is running our program now, but Dan came in at a time when we needed a lift and he provided that lift.”

Broadcaster Ron Anderson, a former YSU play-by-play announcer, remembers Peters for more than basketball.

“The one thing that sticks out in my mind about Dan Peters is that he was a down-to-earth guy,” Anderson said. “He was a great coach and excellent recruiter, but a better human being.

“When you asked him a question or he gave you an answer, he always looked you right in the eye,” Anderson said. “He was a really caring person.”

Greg Gulas, YSU’s sports information director from 1980-97, said, “Dan Peters was the one coach that I had the pleasure of dealing with who always said thank you, and he said it to everyone.

“He knew everyone’s name, from the stat crew to the scorekeeper to the security guards,” Gulas said. “And if he didn’t know your name, then you can bet that he would strike up a conversation with that individual and they’d soon become friends.

“He was a throwback coach; a family man who cared about his players, his coaches, administration and everyone that he came in contact with.

“He always has time for you, no matter how busy he was.”

In June 2004, Peters was named interim head coach at Cincinnati when Huggins was suspended for two months following a DUI arrest, then left to join Thad Matta’s staff at Ohio State University.

In 2009, he became Akron’s director of basketball operations for head coach Keith Dambrot.