Coach who admitted to using racial slur hired to coach Junior team
Bill Peters is joining the coaching staff of the AJHL's Grand Prairie Storm per a report from Rod Petersen
Peters began his coaching career in 1996 as an assistant coach for the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL. He coached there for several seasons before moving on to coach in the AHL for the Rochford IceHogs. He got his chance in the NHL as an assistant coach for the Detroit Redwings in 2011-2012 season working under Mike Babcock. He worked there for three seasons. He moved on for head coaching roles with the Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames. After his time in the NHL he went on to coach in Europe.
While coaching for the Flames, Bill Peters had an accusation of racism made by former Rockford IceHogs player Akim Aliu on his Twitter account on November 25, 2019 , alluding to racial profanities Peters directed towards him. Four days later he resigned from his position as head coach.
Aliu said on Twitter that Peters:
Peters acknowledged the incident in a letter of apology, which he sent to Flames GM Brad Treliving. Peters said the comments were made in a "moment of frustration."
"Although it was an isolated and immediately regrettable incident, I take responsibility for what I said,'" Peters wrote.
There will be mixed reaction about the hiring but fans can't ignore his resume. He's been coaching in hockey consistently for over twenty years. His coaching days in the NHL are probably over which is fair punishment for what he reportedly said.
| POLL | ||
Should Bill Peters continue to work in hockey? | ||
| Yes, people make mistakes | 69 | 55.2 % |
| No, from what he said its not the first time | 56 | 44.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
