DETROIT (5/20/2024) – University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball head coach Mark Montgomery added more experience to his coaching staff with the addition of Mike Peck as an assistant coach.
Peck - a native of Gaylord, Michigan - has coached at Division I, professional and high school in his 20 years in theprofession. He helped build one of the top prep programs in the country inFindlay Prep, which produced numerous DI student-athletes and professional players, before coaching in the NBA G-League.
"Mike is a great coach, who brings tremendous experience from his time in college, in the pros and in high school," said Montgomery. "He has invaluable recruiting connections nationwide and that along with his passion for coaching and helping student-athletes make him a great fit for Detroit Mercy."
He just ended his eighth season as an associate head coach at the University of Texas San Antonio, where he was the defensive coordinator and worked with the post players, while also assisting in game preparation and all aspects of theprogram.The Roadrunnersposted 110 wins, including 59 wins in Conference USA play.
During his time with UTSA, he coached Jhivvan Jackson – 57th all-time in NCAA in scoring with 2,551 points and Keaton Wallace – second in school history with 2,80 points. The pair ranked as the No. 2 duo of any recruiting class in college basketball history.
In 2019-20, Jackson finished second in the nation in scoring (26.9 points per game), setting C-USA and UTSA single-season records, in addition to shattering school marks for career and season scoring. Senior wing Byron Frohnen, Peck's first recruit at UTSA, capped his do-it-all career as the program record in career starts, games played and rebounds. In 2018-19, he helped direct UTSA to a second-place finish in Conference USA with a guard-hefty lineup that featured the nation's top scoring backcourt in Jackson and Wallace. Peck worked directly with the duo as they each averaged over 20 points per game, helping to implement an exciting, fast-paced style of play that saw UTSA rank 19th in the NCAA in pace of play. In 2017-18, Peck's second season in San Antonio, the Roadrunners produced their most successful season of the decade. The team finished 20-15 overall, including an 11-7 C-USA record, a 12-4 home mark and only the program's second postseason victory, defeating Lamar in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).
In addition to the 20 wins, which were the most for UTSA since the 2010-11 season, the program ranked sixth in the NCAA with an average of 28.9 defensive rebounds per game, 13th in overall rebounding at 39.8 per game, 16th with 353 made 3-pointers and in the top 20 percent with a scoring average of 78.3 points per game.
In Peck's first season with UTSA, the 2016-17 Roadrunners more than doubled its win total from the year prior from five to 14. Included in the 14 wins were a school record-tying eight Conference USA victories, the program's first C-USA tournament win and a triumph over I-35 rival Texas State. Moreover, UTSA defeated three of the C-USA's top four team with its wins over Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion and UTEP. Peck aided the Roadrunners to one of the best defensive turnarounds in the nation in 2016-17. The team improved its defensive field goal percentage 8.5 percentage points and lowered its points allowed per game by nearly 15.0 points per game. Moreover, the team's 69.4 points allowed ranked in the top third of Division I and UTSA limited opponents to fewer than 60 points nine times after doing so just once the year prior.
Peck came to UTSA after spending the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach at Santa Clara, where he mentored guard K.J. Feagin, who started all but one contest, was second on the team in scoring (11.4 ppg), led the squad in assists (3.8 apg) and earned West Coast Conference All-Freshman Team honors.
Prior to that he was the head coach of the Las Vegas Prospects AAU Team in 2015 that competed in the prestigious Nike Elite Youth Basketball League.
At the professional level, Peck spent two seasons as the head coach of the NBA D-League's Idaho Stampede (2012-14), which was the affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers. He was instrumental in the development of Pierre Jackson, who averaged 29.1 points per game and was named to the Futures All-Star roster for the 2014 NBA D-League All-Star Game. In all, seven of his former players with the Stampede were on NBA rosters, including current New Orleans Pelicans and Portland starter C.J. McCollum. Additionally, he assisted the Trail Blazers' NBA Summer League team in 2013 and he coached in a pair of Trail Blazers pre-season training camps.
Peck enjoyed a six-year stint (2006-12) at Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada, where he spent the final five years of his tenure as head coach and built the program into a national powerhouse. His teams combined for a 157-8 (.950) record, including a perfect 33-0 season in 2009, three ESPN National High School Championships (2009, '10, '12) and a national runner-up finish (2008).
Peck's teams were ranked in the top 10 of the USA Today and ESPN polls for all five of his seasons and the Pilots produced seven McDonald's All-Americans, seven Jordan Brand All-Americans and eight Parade All-Americans. Peck mentored seven current NBA/NBA D-League players, four of which were first-round picks, including Anthony Bennett, who was the No. 1 overall pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2013 NBA Draft, and Tristan Thompson, who was taken No. 4 overall by the Cavaliers in 2011.
The winningest coach in program history, Peck became the first inductee of the Findlay Prep Hall of Fame in 2015. In addition to the success of his teams on the court, every graduate of Findlay Prep was an NCAA Division I qualifier for their freshmen year of college.
His success at Findlay Prep came following a three-year tenure at UNLV (2003-06), where he served as the video coordinator and administrative assistant under head coaches Charlie Spoonhour and Lon Kruger. He also was an assistant coach at Saginaw Valley State (1998-2003) and Northwood University (1997-98). He got his start in coaching as the junior varsity head coach at St. Mary Cathedral School in his hometown of Gaylord, Mich., where he guided the Snowbirds to a 20-0 record in his lone season (1994-95) before he joined the Saginaw Valley State staff as a graduate assistant (1996-97).
As a player, Peck was a four-year letterwinner and two-time Academic All-American at Northwood.
He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Business Administration in 1993 and went on to earn a master's in Education from Saginaw Valley State in 1998.
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