Hit the Road Rex

After pulling a similar shenanigan with little-known Mercer less than a month ago, this time FAU men's basketball coach Rex Walters really is gone. Mercer didn't up the ante or anything, the University of San Francisco has swooped in and acquired him. The lure was a $ 300,000 salary, slightly more than he made at FAU.

After writing the following passage on his blog on March 27, Walters is heading out of town:

"I am totally committed to getting this program to the highest level. One man can not do it alone. I will demand that my coaching staff and players out work the competition everyday that we put FAU across our chests. We truly need everyone's support to make this thing happen at FAU. A team and a basketball program is a very fragile one. I promise that everyday when I wake up my mind is on doing everything I can to get us there. I am not looking nor will I look to go somewhere else."

Walters will succeed the legendary Eddie Sutton at USF.

A very odd choice in my opinion. Especially since it has now been proven twice in the last two years that good Sun Belt coaches get SEC jobs. Alabama's and South Carolina's coaches are fresh from the Belt.

In two season's with the Owls, after succeeding the departed Matt Doherty (now at Southern Methodist in Dallas) as coach, Walters went 31-33 in two full seasons. His tenure was highlighted by a hot temper that led to many technical fouls and the nickname T-Rex. He suspended the team's two best players (Carlos Monroe and Paul Graham III) and had heated run-ins with nearly all others. He helped continue a trend of mediocre baskteball that Doherty started in 2005-06 but got students excited about FAU hoops. Walters fostered the men's bball team's move from the Atlantic Sun to the Sun Belt conference and won a first round playoff game in the conference tourney each year, both were against FIU.

Bye Rex.