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.
"Although it was an isolated and immediately regrettable incident, I take responsibility for what I said,'" Peters wrote.