April 20, 2004
ATLANTA – Peter Zaharis, who has spent the past four years as Georgia Tech’s director of basketball operations, has been promoted to assistant coach, filling the position left vacant when Dean Keener was named head coach at James Madison in early April.
This will be Zaharis’ third college assistant coaching assignment, having spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Villanova and one at New York University.
“Peter is a bright basketball coach with a great future, and I am confident he will do a great job,” said head coach Paul Hewitt. “He is very well organized and has done a lot of things behind the scenes for us that are important to everyone in our program – players, coaches as well as administrators. He will be an outstanding recruiter and floor coach for us.”
“I really appreciate the opportunity that Paul has given me,” said Zaharis, “It has been a great experience to be a part of this team for four years already, and I look forward to helping continue the success of this program.”
Zaharis joined the Villanova staff as administrative assistant in 1996-97, when Hewitt was in his final year on the Wildcats’ staff. He became an assistant coach beginning with the 1997-98 season through 1999-2000.
In his three seasons as an assistant coach, Villanova went 53-41 with a pair of 20-win seasons with one appearance each in the NCAA Tournament and NIT.
Zaharis began his coaching career in 1992 on the high school level, spending three years as an assistant coach at Holy Trinity High School in New York.
From there, Zaharis made the jump to the collegiate level, earning a spot as an assistant coach at NYU. While at his alma mater, he handled recruiting, scouting, and assisted in the planning of practices. In addition, he served as the head coach of the junior varsity program. During his tenure at NYU, the Violets advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Zaharis earned his bachelor’s degree in 1987 from NYU and then added his MBA from the school in 1989. Prior to entering the coaching ranks, Zaharis worked for five years at Citibank in New York City as a financial analyst.
Zaharis, a native of Jamaica, N.Y., is married to the former Ritsa Demetriades, and lives in Atlanta.
