Peterson seizing early opportunities to work with Vaughn

photo by: AP Photo/John Munson

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn works the sideline during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in New York.

When freshman guard Darryn Peterson found out that former Kansas great Jacque Vaughn was joining the coaching staff as an assistant, he sent Vaughn a text: “So excited to learn from you.”

Those were clearly not just empty pleasantries. Kansas athletic director Travis Goff said on Wednesday at Big 12 football media days in Frisco, Texas, that each time he has visited KU’s summer practices, on three or four separate occasions, Peterson has stuck around for added work afterward with one assistant coach specifically.

“It’s not Darryn and another guy and two coaches, it’s Darryn and Jacque,” Goff said. “Darryn and Jacque, one-on-one after every one of those sessions.”

That’s the potential future No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft — early projections are split between Peterson and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa — and a former All-American with his jersey in the rafters at Allen Fieldhouse.

Not to mention that Vaughn has worked with some of the best in basketball during his time as an NBA coach (he is the first former NBA head coach to serve as a KU assistant).

“You can just see the mutual connection of Darryn going, ‘That dude’s done this workout or this drill with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving,'” Goff said.

It isn’t difficult for the AD to project that same level of greatness onto Peterson, of whom much is expected for what should be his lone season in college.

“I literally sit there watching, I can blur my eyes and think that’s Jacque with Kyrie, or that’s Jacque with Kevin, or a combination of Jacque with Kyrie and Kevin,” Goff said. “And it’s just cool to see that.”

When Peterson and Vaughn spoke to reporters in early June, shortly after both had arrived on campus, Peterson acknowledged that he had to get to know his new coach before he could really take advantage of Vaughn’s NBA background: “And then as time goes on I’ll start asking him questions about that type of stuff. But I got to get through this year first before I can even get to the NBA.”

Vaughn, meanwhile, said he didn’t want to “pigeonhole (himself) into only working with DP” and stressed that he was excited to work with all of KU’s players regardless of position. But he did acknowledge that in Peterson, the Jayhawks had a “special individual.” And to hear Goff tell it, Vaughn has gotten to see that special quality up close on plenty of occasions in the five weeks since his arrival.

Goff also praised head coach Bill Self for his “awareness” or “humility” in bringing in Vaughn as an outside voice — even though Vaughn is still intimately familiar with KU.

“He’s a Jayhawk, but Bill and Jacque do not know each other very well,” Goff said. “They’re not in the same family, so to speak. And so I think that was a really cool acknowledgment on Bill’s part: ‘I’ve never worked with him, I don’t know he operates, but that’s a guy who cares about the place, which is (an) added bonus, and then two, has a different lens and perspective.’ And so it’s added some quiet confidence to where we’re going.”