Just the presence of a press conference for new Appalachian State men’s basketball coach Buzz Peterson has Mountaineers guard A.J. Highsmith excited about going back to the court.

Peterson, who was formally introduced to the media and supporters of the program at the Broyhill Center Monday, talked about energizing the program. He won’t have to sell the idea on Highsmith, who is anxious to begin Peterson’s second go-around with the Mountaineers.

“To hear him talk and to hear the fire in his voice and to understand the success he’s had in the past and the chance we have to do something special for this school, we’re very excited and are looking forward to the future,” Highsmith said.

Peterson accepted the position after the dismissal of Houston Fancher. Losing Fancher as coach came as a surprise to the players, but they, with help from assistant coach Matt McMahon, who will be retained by Peterson, were able to maintain some normalcy while the search for a new coach dragged on for five weeks.

“Obviously when Coach Fancher was released, it was a bit of a shock, especially for the guys who have been here for a long time,” Highsmith said. “We just tried to stay together and remain close and remain a family and trust (athletics director) Charlie Cobb, Chancellor (Kenneth) Peacock and the board of trustees and the search committee to bring in the best guy for Appalachian.”

“It was very tough,” guard Donald Sims added. “We had a lot of team meetings and a lot of guys were down.

We felt like nobody cared for us and nobody wanted to coach us. Not understanding the process of what it takes for Mr. Cobb and Mr. Peacock to get a coach, it was just unfortunate.”

Highsmith said McMahon tried to keep things a normal as possible by making sure the players got their offseason workouts done and by making sure they went to class.

“He was still the same man, which shows his commitment to this program and his character as far as a human being is concerned,” Highsmith said.

“Coach McMahon got us through it,” Sims said. “We got a good hire and we’re very excited about it.”

Highsmith also said that if any of the players thought about leaving the program, he did not hear of them.

Appalachian State graduates one senior, Eduardo Bermudez, from last year’s team.

“I honestly did not hear of anyone,” Highsmith said. “If there were those rumors going around, I can attest to the fact that they were not true. Everybody was definitely committed to this program.”

Sims said that Peterson hasn’t been too specific as the the style of basketball he’ll coach, except that the Mountaineers will play plenty of man-to-man defense.

“He said that he’s tough and that we’re going to play man-to-man defense,” Sims said. “Depending on how we play and our personnel, we’ll adjust to it, but that’s basically it.”