Rex Walters


Rex Andrew Walters is an American former professional basketball player and current coach. Previously Walters served as the head coach of the Grand Rapids Drive. Previously, he was the men's basketball coach at the University of San Francisco. Walters played college basketball at Northwestern and
Kansas and played professionally for ten years, including seven seasons in the NBA, from 1993 to 2003.

Biography

Born in Omaha, Nebraska on March 12, 1970, Walters played high school basketball at Piedmont Hills High School in San Jose, California, but graduated from Independence High School in San Jose, California. Walters played at Northwestern University before transferring to the University of Kansas, where he helped lead the Jayhawks to the Final Four in 1993. During his time at Kansas he was coached by Roy Williams. The 6'4" shooting guard was selected by the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets with the 16th pick in the 1993 NBA draft. Walters played in the league from 1993 until 2000. He was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in his third season and he also played briefly with the Miami Heat. After leaving the NBA, Walters played for León and Gran Canaria in Spain. In addition to his playing career, Walters had a minor role in the 1994 film Blue Chips.
Walters is biracial; his mother is Japanese and his father is white. In an interview with Rick Quan, Rex Walters responded to the question of feeling that he was a pioneer for Asian Americans. He responded: "I consider myself Japanese-American. I just don't look it. People are always surprised. Now we got a guy like Jeremy Lin breaking barriers, I'd like to think I played a small part in that". He later added, "People ask me who I am? What I am? I am a Japanese-American, I take great pride in that."

Coaching career

From 2006-2008, Walters served as the men's basketball coach at Florida Atlantic University. From 2008 to 2016 he was the head basketball coach at the University of San Francisco.
In 2014, Walters was named WCC Coach of the Year by his coaching peers. He finished his University of San Francisco coaching career with a 126–125 overall record in 2016, including a 63–65 mark in West Coast Conference games. On June 29, 2016, Walters was named the head coach of the Grand Rapids Drive. On July 1, 2017 Walters was named an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons.

Head coaching record