Bryan Peters has been promoted to Associate Head Coach of the High Point University baseball team, head coach Craig Cozart announced Monday. Peters has been an assistant coach at HPU for the past two seasons.

“Coach Peters is being promoted to the position of Associate Head Coach because this more appropriately describes his role within our staff,” Cozart said. “His leadership in recruiting and the relationships he has in that area are invaluable. His daily energy and ability to develop talent is second to none and his vision for where this program is going is vital to our future success. I have known Coach Peters for fifteen years and worked with him for five, there is no coach I respect more in the realm of college baseball.”

Peters joined the HPU baseball staff in July 2008 and has been the recruiting coordinator and hitting coach for the Panthers for the past two seasons. In his two seasons the team batting average has jumped from .277 in 2008 to a school-record .334 for the 2010 season. Under Peters the offense set program records for batting average, runs scored, hits, RBI, doubles, home runs, walks and stolen bases in 2010.

“I am thankful, grateful and appreciative to continue to work with Coach Cozart,” Peters said. “He is a gracious and caring person and it is great to work alongside him. It is easy to work hard at High Point because everyone from the student-athletes to the coaches to the administration is a team. We all work hard and put in the hours because we all care. High Point is a special place. My two years have been great and it will only continue to get better.”

Peters followed Cozart from UCF, where the two worked together for two seasons as assistant coaches on the Knights' staff. Peters joined the Panthers following a highly successful 13-year coaching career that included stints at UCF, Stetson and USF.

“Our coaching staff has been together here at HPU for two years now and I could not be more pleased with the progress we have made,” Cozart said. “We have been successful recruiting at the national level, we are giving our student-athletes a quality experience and we have been able to connect with the surrounding community. This staff truly has great chemistry.”

Along with assistant coaches Rich Wallace and Daniel Latham, Peters and Cozart led HPU to a 31-29 (15-12 Big South Conference) record in 2010, setting program records in overall and conference wins. The Panthers also had the Big South Conference Player of the Year, Nate Roberts, as well as three All-Conference selections in Roberts, Matt Gantner and Jaime Schultz.