Bryan Peters returns to USF Baseball as assistant coach

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University of South Florida head baseball coach Mitch Hannahs has announced that former Bull, Bryan Peters, will join his coaching staff. Peters previously played and coached at South Florida and will return to Tampa after serving as the interim head coach at Long Beach State University in 2024.

Peters played at South Florida from 1995-96 for Eddie Cardieri, helping lead the Bulls to both the regular season and tournament Metro championships in 1995 and the 1996 C-USA regular season title, advancing to the NCAA Tournament both seasons. He then began his coaching career at USF in 1997, spending time as an assistant coaching and recruiting coordinator, a nine-year stint on staff that saw the Bulls reach the NCAA Tournament three times.

He brings with him nearly 30 years of coaching experience in his return to the dugout at South Florida.

Peters first joined the staff at Long Beach State for the 2020 season where he worked with the offense and hitters before being promoted to interim head coach of the Dirtbags prior to the 2024 campaign.

In his four seasons as an assistant coach at Long Beach State, Peters worked with one All-American and eight All-Big West recipients. In 2023, the Dirtbags had one of their most prolific offensive seasons in recent history, including 62 home runs which rank second all-time in program single-season history.

Prior to Long Beach State, Peters spent the 2019 season as an assistant at Saint Mary’s after a two-year stint as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale. In 2017, Nova Southeastern led all Division II teams with 97 home runs. The following season, the Sharks led the Sunshine State Conference in batting average (.318), slugging (.509), scoring (8.6 runs/game), stolen bases (86) and home runs per game (1.43).

Peters also spent time on staff at Pittsburgh, High Point, UCF and Stetson.

In 2016, Peters’ third and final season in Pittsburgh, five Panthers were selected in the MLB Draft, including first-rounder T.J. Zeuch. Peters also worked with first-round pick Jason Dellaero during his first stint at USF.

After two seasons as an assistant at High Point, Peters was promoted to associate head coach for the remainder of his tenure. His 2010 team set program records in batting average, runs, hits, RBI, doubles, home runs, walks and stolen bases while posting their first winning record in a decade.

Peters also helped orchestrate an offensive resurgence in his two seasons at UCF while bringing in the No. 7 ranked recruiting class in 2008. At Stetson, he saw the Hatters win the 2006 ASUN tournament title and reach the NCAA Tournament.

A native of Lancaster, California, Peters was an All-Conference recipient at Antelope Valley (Calif.) Community College before transferring to USF where he earned his bachelor’s degree in speech communication in 1997.

About USF Baseball

The South Florida Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and will enter its 60th campaign in 2025. Mitch Hannahs was named South Florida’s eighth head coach in program history on June 8, 2024 after compiling 355 wins over 11 seasons at Indiana State. The 2023 ABCA NCAA DI Midwest Region Coach of the Year guided the Sycamores to six conference titles and five NCAA Regionals.

The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. The Bulls have won five conference tournament titles (3 Sun Belt, 1 Metro and 1 American) and six regular season championships (3 Sun Belt, 2 Metro and 1 C-USA). USF baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, most recently with third baseman David Villar in 2018, and 19 have earned Freshman All-America accolades, most recently Eric Snow in 2023. USF has had 131 MLB Draft Picks. Former 2018 first-round draft pick, Shane McClanahan, is a two-time MLB All-Star.