Utah Utes basketball: U. finds new assistant

The University of Utah has hired another former Utahn with ties to Southern Utah University to fill its open assistant basketball coach position.

The Utes hired Barret Peery, a native of Payson who spent the last three seasons as head coach at College of Southern Idaho. He joins Stan Johnson, another SUU grad, who joined the Ute staff last month.

The 37-year-old Peery comes to Utah with a wealth of experience, including an 85-19 record as head coach at CSI. This past year, CSI posted a 30-2 record with a league championship and No. 1 national ranking.

"This is a big hire for us," said Utah head coach Jim Boylen. "It's big for us to get a head coach, who's also a Utah guy and understands the area. Barret is a quality coach and an outstanding recruiter. He's passionate about coming here."

Peery grew up in Payson and played for Snow College and Southern Utah. Besides coaching at CSI, he has had coaching stops at Snow, Utah Valley, Portland State and SUU.

"I'm ecstatic about working with coach Boylen," Peery said. "It was going to take something special for me to leave CSI and that's how I feel about this job at the University of Utah. I'm excited about the opportunity to work with coach Boylen. I think he's doing a fantastic job and it will be a great opportunity for me to learn and grow."

Last month, Utah hired Johnson, who also played at Southern Utah and in fact was recruited by Peery when he was an assistant coach there. Peery coached at SUU from 1998-2002, helping the T-Birds to their only NCAA appearance as well as a win over Utah in 2000.

Peery and Johnson replace Chris Jones and Marty Wilson, who left for jobs at Utah State and Pepperdine, respectively.

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E-mail: sor@desnews.com

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