Shawnee ? From the top row of bleachers at Okun Fieldhouse, Rex Walters watched as the Kansas City Keys and the SYF Players played in the Price Chopper/Kansas City Prep Invitational Tournament.
On any other day, Walters — a former Kansas University basketball player and current Valparaiso assistant under Homer Drew — would have blended in with the hundreds of fans who flocked to watch the local AAU basketball showcase, but not Friday evening. Walters’ black mesh athletic shorts and white Valpo T-shirt didn’t make him stand out, but the men around him did.
Missouri coach Quin Snyder leaned against the bleachers and kept an eye on Kansas City (Mo.) O’Hara High senior Marcus Walker. Illinois coach Bruce Weber also lingered nearby, while Arizona’s Lute Olson and KU coach Bill Self watched another game on a nearby court.
Walters admitted he sometimes feels a bit out of place.
“It’s funny, because I was lucky enough to have Arizona interested at one point when I transferred (to Kansas) from Northwestern,” Walters said. “And then I see coach (Joe) Holladay here from North Carolina, and all of these people that I knew as a player are sitting next to me.”
Walters began his coaching career last year following a successful playing career. He guided KU to the 1993 Final Four before playing seven seasons in the NBA.
“I miss the money, I miss the paychecks,” Walters quipped about playing pro ball. “But I don’t miss it. There’s a certain point where you know you’re getting better or you’re not getting better. I was definitely at the point where I had peaked as a player. Athletically, I wasn’t going to get any better, so it was time to hang it up and find something else to do.”
That something else, it turned out, was coaching.
He spent the 2002-2003 season as a volunteer assistant at Blue Valley Northwest High and then accepted a graduate assistant position at Emporia State before Valpo came calling.
The Crusaders won the Mid-Continent Conference title before being bumped by Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Walters’ duties at Valpo include recruiting, running and organizing summer camps and coaching clinics and coordinating players’ workouts and team meals. He said he drew coaching influences from having played for Roy Williams, Pat Riley and Larry Brown. Now he’s learning from Drew.
“I’ve learned that there is no one specific way of doing things,” Walters said.
His goal is to become a college head coach.
“That’s the whole reason why I’m in this,” Walters said. “Someday you have your own ship, but I’ve got an awful lot to learn first. I’ve got a lot of years of experience that I need, but that’s the whole deal, to compete at the highest level.”
The Illinois Warriors, led by power forward recruit Julian Wright, won the title Saturday morning by beating Team Texas. Wright at one time had KU on his list, but now is down to Illinois, DePaul and Arizona. Team Texas has a pair of recruits — C.J. Miles and Kevin Rogers — considering KU.
