UConn on Monday announced the hiring of Mike Pegues, formerly an assistant coach at Butler. At Butler, he was focused on post player development, recruiting and scouting. He fills the void left when Luke Murray took the head coaching position at Boston College.
Pegues (pronounced puh-GEESE) grew up in Washington DC, and he played for powerhouse DeMatha Catholic in high school. He matriculated at the University of Delaware, playing for 4 years under Mike Brey. He had a professional career spent mostly abroad (Italy, New Zealand, England and Argentina), but also spent a year in Hartford playing for the Connecticut Pride of the now defunct Continental Basketball Association.
Mike began his coaching career at the high school level back in DC at Friendship Collegiate Academy. He spent a few years at DeMatha’s rival Bishop O’Connell as an assistant before heading to the college ranks as the video coordinator at VCU. His first assistant coaching job was at his alma mater, Delaware, under head coach Monte Ross.
After two years at Delaware, he was plucked by Chris Mack to join him on his staff at Xavier, then Pegues followed Mack to Louisville. Perhaps not coincidentally, he worked with Luke Murray at Xavier and Louisville, spending 6 years together on Mack’s staff. In the 2021-22 season, Pegues filled in as head coach for two different stretches, once for 6 games while Mack served a university suspension, and again for the final 12 games of the season as the interim head coach after Mack was let go by Louisville. The Cardinals went 7-11 in those 18 games.
After Louisville decided to go in a different direction for head coach, Pegues joined Thad Matta’s staff at Butler as an assistant, where he worked from 2022-2026. With Matta’s resignation earlier this spring, Pegues decided to join up with Hurley and the Huskies. This will be Pegues’s third time coaching in the Big East.
