5-star Darryn Peterson hyped as Kansas legend Jacque Vaughn returns to Bill Self’s team

Five-star recruit Darryn Peterson is one of the consensus two best players in the 2025 recruiting class, alongside A.J. Dybantsa. Although opinions are divided on which player is better, they are viewed by most experts as the two top recruits this season. Peterson is signed to Kansas next season.

While Peterson already had a lot to be excited about heading into his first year of college basketball, he got even more exciting news on Wednesday. In an Instagram post, the Kansas men's basketball account announced that Kansas legend Jacque Vaughn will be joining head coach Bill Self's coaching staff.

"Welcome home, Jacque Vaughn. The Kansas great returns to Lawrence as an assistant coach."

Shortly after the post was made, Darryn Peterson commented and showed how hyped up he is to be coached by the Kansas legend.

"100 100."

Jacque Vaughn was a member of the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team from 1993 to 1997. In that time, the Jayhawks reached the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite Eight once. Vaughn went on to be the 27th pick in the 1997 NBA draft.

His playing career went from 1997 to 2009 before he retired and became a coach. Before he took the job at Kansas for this upcoming season, he was the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets from 2022 to 2024.

Darryn Peterson and Jacque Vaughn will try to get the Kansas Jayhawks back on track next season

While Darryn Peterson is excited to join the Kansas Jayhawks alongside new assistant coach Jacque Vaughn, it will be all business next season for the incoming duo. The Kansas Jayhawks are one of the most storied programs in college basketball history but have not lived up to expectations the past two seasons.

After winning the NCAA championship in 2022, the Jayhawks have had two consecutive second-round exits from the NCAA Tournament. Jacque Vaughn was brought in to be an extra motivating factor for the Jayhawks, bringing NBA experience to Kansas.

Darryn Peterson will be expected to step in and have an immediate impact for the team. As one of the top two recruits in his class, he is expected to be a star right away. He is viewed as a player who will likely only play one college season before declaring for the NBA draft. As a result, if Kansas wants to win with him, it will need to be next season.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Alexander O'Reilly