UTSA head men’s basketball coach Steve Henson announced Wednesday that he has added Mike Peck and Scott Thompson to his coaching staff effective immediately. Peck will serve as associate head coach, while Thompson will be an assistant coach.
“I’m really excited and feel like we nailed it with both of these hires,” Henson said. “I worked with Coach Peck at UNLV and we’ve stayed very close over the years. He went on to lead Findlay Prep to terrific things like national championships and an unbelievable winning percentage. He’s a guy that has terrific connections and a guy that is great with the student-athletes on and off the court, especially with his skill development.
“Coach Thompson and I have known each other for a long time and we worked together at South Florida many years ago. He was a terrific addition to our staff at Oklahoma and we’re excited about the things he’s going to do at UTSA. He’s really good with people and the student-athletes relate well to him. He’s a high-character guy and he’ll do a great job on the recruiting trail.”
“I’m just really excited about the opportunity and it’s a great time to be at UTSA,” Peck said. “The longer that you’re in the coaching profession, you find that you want to be with people that are credible, respectable and likeable. It didn’t take me more than a tenth of a second to check all three with Coach Henson. For me, when you can check all three of those, it was a no-brainer. I couldn’t be more thrilled and excited about the opportunity to be reunited with him and everything that lies ahead for us.”
“I’m very excited about being here at UTSA,” Thompson said. “Coach Henson and I go back to the early 2000s when we were at South Florida together. We’ve become really close friends, work really well together and we’ve talked about this for 12 or 13 years; the opportunity to work together, coach together and build a program together. With the potential that UTSA has, it’s just an incredible opportunity. Our priorities are to teach our student-athletes how to win on the court and in the classroom and to be good citizens. We’re going to work from daylight until exhaustion to get that done.”
With coaching experience at the professional, collegiate and high school levels, Peck comes to UTSA after spending the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach at Santa Clara. In a short time with the Broncos, 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.
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 Portland starter C.J. McCollum.
Additionally, he coached the Trail Blazers’ NBA Summer League team in 2013 and he coached in a pair of Trail Blazers pre-season training camps.
Peck entered the professional ranks after a six-year stint (2006-12) at Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., where he spent the final five years of his tenure as head coach.
During his five seasons at the helm, Peck 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.
Peck 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 and he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1993. He went on to earn a master’s degree in education from Saginaw Valley State in 1998.
Peck and his wife, Terri, have a daughter, Madison, and a son, Gavin.
Meanwhile, Thompson comes to the Alamo City with 14 years of coaching experience that includes stints in the Big 12 Conference, Big East Conference, Southeastern Conference, Conference USA and at the high school level.
He spent the last five seasons (2011-16) with Henson as a member of Lon Kruger’s staff at Oklahoma, where he served as the video coordinator and character coach. Thompson was responsible for all aspects of the video department, including film exchange, film breakdown, scout tapes, player instructional videos, recruiting videos and the team’s video playbook.
Thompson also worked with the coaching staff to create scouting reports on opponents and he oversaw the student video coordinator staff that filmed and coded all practices for the coaching staff to review.
As the team’s character coach, Thompson put an emphasis on developing life skills for student-athletes. He also created and implemented the “Xs and Os of Sooner Basketball”, which was an eight-week orientation program for incoming student-athletes that focused on the history, traditions and core values of Sooner Basketball, and he hosted voluntary team Bible study and character building sessions.
Prior to his time in Norman, Okla., he spent five seasons (2006-11) as the varsity boys basketball coach at Cambridge Christian School in Tampa, Fla., and he served as the school’s athletics director for four years as well.
A two-time Hillsborough County 1A Coach of the Year, his teams produced a 77-48 record and claimed back-to-back district titles in 2010-11. Thompson guided the Lancers to a pair of berths in the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Sweet 16 along with a trip to the state regional quarterfinals. In all, he mentored eight All-Bay Conference selections and his teams posted a collective GPA of 3.65.
Thompson served three seasons (2003-06) as the director of basketball operations at South Florida, where he directed all administrative aspects of the men’s basketball program. In addition to his administrative duties, he oversaw team practices and player development, coordinated all aspects of the video department, hired student managers and managed the team’s travel and equipment budgets. Thompson also was responsible for academic progress and class attendance accountability of student-athletes and the 2004-05 team was honored as the C-USA Men’s Basketball Academic Team of the Year.
A native of Rienzi, Miss., Thompson got his start in coaching as a student assistant and graduate assistant at Ole Miss, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2002.
Thompson and his wife, Ashley, have two daughters, Brett and Helen, and a son, Griffin.
