They say when you grow up breathing mountain air, your lungs never stop craving it, no matter how long ago it was, or how far away you are from your last deep breath.

Buzz Peterson will agree with that philosophy, which is just one reason the Asheville, N.C., native says he feels so at home at his new job as the head coach at Tennessee. Knoxville isn't exactly in the mountains -- the way nearby Asheville or Boone, N.C., home of his first head coaching job at Appalachian State was -- but the Smokies surround town, and Eastern Tennessee air is about as sweet as he remembers it.

Jon Higgins' poise and footwork has caught Buzz Peterson's attention.(Allsport)

"A day like today is perfect," Peterson said Wednesday. "It's cool this morning, about 45, 48 degrees, the air is real clear, and you can see the mountains way in the background. This is what I know. This is where I grew up.

"In Boone, I guess I was on top of the mountain, now I can just see them in the distance. But once you get used to those mountains, it is hard not to have them."

So maybe this is what Tennessee needed, the perfect fit for a program that has so much potential, so much current talent, so much ambition to be great. Maybe it needed a guy like Peterson, 38, who knows not only fullcourt traps and how to impress recruits and demand discipline, but is a youthful, former prep All-American with a passion for the region.

UT has been through years and years of unfulfilled potential and spells of mediocrity. Peterson is the ninth coach in 42 years. It's not that the last coach, Jerry Green, wasn't a gentlemanly Southerner who couldn't win. But despite a school-best four-year stretch of 83-36, it wasn't enough to please anyone.

So maybe Buzz Peterson is just what the Vols need.

"I have always, in the back of my mind, been interested in this job," said Peterson in his deep country accent. "But I didn't think the opportunity would present itself anytime soon. I was just surprised with the way things ended up last season.

"Coach Green did a tremendous job, he had four straight 20-win seasons, which means that something else was going on. Discipline was needed in the program."

Indeed, Green won a lot of games in his four-year run, but he didn't win enough of the big ones (3-5 vs. Kentucky, 2-4 in the SEC Tournament) considering the talent he inherited from previous coach Kevin O'Neill. And even though UT had won only five NCAA Tournament games ever before Green's arrival, his 3-4 NCAA record, in which all four losses came to teams seeded lower, was not enough to placate fans.

Also, as Peterson mentioned, there was the perception that discipline, both on the court and off, was lax, while despite all the offensive power that Vincent Yarborough and Tony Harris provided, there wasn't enough defense.

And that is what Peterson is vowing to change. He was a McDonald's All-American coming out of Asheville and went onto North Carolina, roomed with Michael Jordan, was part of the 1982 NCAA Championship team and learned the game under Dean Smith.

As a head coach, he made a winner out of Appalachian State, even reaching the 1999 NCAA Tournament, before going 22-11 last season at Tulsa. Peterson expected to be at Tulsa for a while, even if the Eastern Oklahoma landscape is notoriously flat. But then Green was dismissed after UT (26-11) lost in the NCAA first round to Charlotte, and Peterson was back where he's most at home.

Which is one reason he is so determined to make Volunteer basketball a homey, close-knit place, not one prone to self-destruction like last season.

"They were a team that played well early (rising to No. 4 in the rankings) only to struggle later in the season," said Peterson, who is 105-50 in five years as a head coach. "It was very similar to what happened at North Carolina. I am big on team unity; you've got to be one big family. You've got to do things off the floor with each other.

"That's why we are doing a lot of activities, even if it is just having softball games, or wiffleball games or having the team out to my house for an occasional dinner and playing pool and pingpong. I want to have a player-coach relationship built on trust."

Peterson made an early statement about discipline and relationships when he dismissed guards Terrence Woods and Harris Walker from the team for rule violations. It will hurt the Vols backcourt depth, but according to Peterson, neither player was committed to following the rules of the family.

So maybe that is what UT needs. Peterson certainly has some talent on hand. Yarborough is a tremendous offensive player who could be an All-American if he committed himself to playing defense. Guard Jon Higgins has already turned Peterson's head with his great footwork and poise. Big body Ron Slay can dominate on the glass but needs improved focus during games.

But that has kind of always been the story at Tennessee. This is a school that succeeds in nearly every athletic endeavor -- especially football and women's basketball -- but has never really gotten momentum going in men's basketball. But with a central location, a great college town in Knoxville, fine facilities and the Southeastern Conference to recruit to, there is no reason not to succeed.

Peterson just needs to get this program connected with instate players who traditionally have favored heading to Memphis or Kentucky.

"It's very important," he said. "We've got to really work the state. We are the state institution and each year we've got to know and focus on the best couple of local players."

Tennessee has long been one of those sleeping giant programs in the country. There is no simple reason for its mediocrity, no lack of commitment from the school to field a winner.

So maybe what it needed all along was a coach with the mountains in his blood, with discipline in his game plan and a lot of passion for where he is. A coach that truly believes in Tennessee and doesn't really want to be anywhere else.

"This is home to me," said Peterson simply. "This is a really great place."