Rex Hughes (September 24, 1938 – May 9, 2016) was an American college and professional basketball coach. He coached men's basketball at Long Beach City College,

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

, and later served as a

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) assistant coach. He served as head coach for part of a season with the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

, and a single game as an interim coach with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

. Hughes also worked in NBA scouting and basketball operations with the Kings,

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

and

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

. Hughes went to Redondo High School and played college basketball at Pepperdine.

Head Coaching Positions

In 1968–1969, Hughes was head coach at Long Beach City College, his first collegiate job after coaching in high school. His squad finished 23–5. When Hughes left to be an assistant at Nebraska, he was replaced by

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

, in his first collegiate job. Replacing Frank Truitt at Kent State University in 1974, Hughes' teams went 6–20, 12–14 and 8–19 over the next three seasons. The team started 1–10 in 1977–1978, when he was replaced by Mike Boyd. In 1978–1979, Hughes was head coach and general manager of the Montana Sky (

Great Falls, Montana Great Falls is the List of cities and towns in Montana, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

) in the short-lived Western Basketball Association. The Sky were co-owned by country singer Charlie Pride. Notably, Hughes had Cazzie Russell and Brad Davis on the roster. Hughes was hired by the Sky mid-season when Coach Bill Klukas was fired after a 3–17 start. The league folded after one season. In 1991–1992 Hughes served as an assistant coach under

Dick Motta John Richard Motta (born September 3, 1931) is an American former basketball coach whose career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) spanned 25 years. Motta coached the Washington Wizards, Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA Finals, 1978 ...

with the

and went 22–35 in 57 games, replacing Motta as head coach after Motta was fired. In 1992–1993, Hughes was hired to serve as an assistant coach to

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Reb ...

with the

. However, just 20 games into the season at 9–11, Tarkanian was fired. Hughes was 1–0 as interim head coach before John Lucas (39–22) was hired.

Media

On March 4, 2009, Hughes became the 15th person in "The Rex Streak", a streak by radio talk show host

Jim Rome James Phillip Rome (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio host. His talk show, '' The Jim Rome Show'', is syndicated by Westwood One. Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, Rome hosts ''The Jim Rome Show'' on r ...

of consecutive days interviewing someone named Rex.

Death

Hughes died on May 9, 2016, at the age of 77.

References

External links

BasketballReference.com: Rex Hughes
1938 births 2016 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from California College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in California Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball coaches Pepperdine Waves men's basketball players Sacramento Kings assistant coaches Sacramento Kings head coaches San Antonio Spurs assistant coaches San Antonio Spurs head coaches UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball coaches USC Trojans men's basketball coaches Vancouver Grizzlies assistant coaches Western Basketball Association coaches 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-basketball-coach-stub