November 16, 2020
The New Orleans Pelicans announced today the hiring of Bob Beyer, Casey Hill, and Rex Walters as assistant coaches, along with Corey Brewer and Beno Udrih as player development coaches. They join Assistant Coach Fred Vinson and Teresa Weatherspoon, who has been promoted to assistant coach, and Player Development Coach Darnell Lazare on Head Coach Stan Van Gundy’s staff. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.
“I am excited about our coaching staff,” said Van Gundy. “We have a great mix of background, experience, perspective and expertise. Four of our assistants have been head coaches at the professional or NCAA Division I levels. Five of our coaches played in the NBA or WNBA. Three coaches have institutional knowledge having worked for Griff, Trajan and current Pelicans players, while three others have worked with me and two bring us an entirely new perspective. I am looking forward to working with this staff to maximize the potential of our talented players.”
Bob Beyer joins the Pelicans bench with over 35 years of coaching experience at the NBA and collegiate levels. He was most recently an assistant coach on the Sacramento Kings staff during the 2019-20 season. Prior to joining the Kings, Beyer served as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2018-19 season. Beyer has spent nine seasons on Stan Van Gundy’s coaching staff, including four seasons with the Detroit Pistons (2014-18) and five seasons with the Orlando Magic (2007-12), where he helped Orlando reach the postseason five consecutive times including a 2009 NBA Finals appearance. Beyer has also been an assistant coach for the Charlotte Bobcats (2013-14), Golden State Warriors (2012-13) and Toronto Raptors (2003-04). Before joining the NBA ranks, Beyer spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Texas Tech under Bob Knight from 2001-03. His college coaching experience also includes stints at the University of Albany, Siena College (head coach), University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University and University of Dayton.
Casey Hill enters his first season with the New Orleans Pelicans after spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers. Prior to joining Doc Rivers’ staff, Hill spent the 2017-18 season as head coach of the Clippers’ NBA G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers, leading the team to a 23-27 record in its inaugural season. Hill joined the Clippers after four seasons as head coach of the Santa Cruz Warriors, G League affiliate of the Golden State Warriors, where he led the franchise to its first-ever G League title in 2014-15. Hill and his staff in Santa Cruz earned the 2013-14 NBA G League “Development Champion” award, an annual honor that recognizes the team that best embodies the league’s goals of developing NBA basketball talent via call-ups and assignments. Prior to joining Santa Cruz staff, the Trinity University grad worked under his father, longtime NBA coach Bob Hill, with the Tokyo Apache, a professional team in Japan.
Fred Vinson begins his 11th season as an assistant coach in New Orleans. Prior to joining the Pelicans, Vinson was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers from 2007-09. In addition to his duties as an assistant coach, Vinson also served as director of player programs for the Clippers, where he was responsible for mentoring young players and easing their transition to the NBA. Vinson played 13 years of professional basketball, including two NBA seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and Seattle SuperSonics. In addition to playing in the United States Basketball League, Continental Basketball Association and American Basketball Association, Vinson spent several years overseas with professional clubs in the Philippines, Israel, Venezuela, Poland and France. In 2003, Vinson was a member of the CBA Champion Yakima Sun Kings, in addition to being named a CBA All-Star that season. He also holds the record for most points in a game in Guaiqueries de Margarita (Venezuela) team history with 53.
Rex Walters enters his first season with the Pelicans. Walters, who served as an assistant coach under Stan Van Gundy in Detroit during the 2017-18 season, most recently served as an assistant coach at Wake Forest University during the 2019-20 season. Prior to joining Van Gundy’s staff in 2017, Walters was the head coach of the Grand Rapids Drive, the NBA G League affiliate of the Detroit Pistons. At the collegiate level, Walters spent eight seasons (2008-16) as head coach at the University of San Francisco where he guided the Dons to two 20-win seasons and two postseason appearances. Walters was named West Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2013-14, becoming the first USF coach to win the award since Pete Barry in 1980-81. He amassed a 126-125 (.501) record at USF. Prior to becoming head coach at USF, he served two seasons (2006-08) as head coach at Florida Atlantic University after being an assistant coach in the 2005-06 season. Walters has also served as an assistant coach on the collegiate level at the University of Nevada (2018-19) and Valparaiso (2003-05). Drafted 16th overall in the 1993 NBA Draft by New Jersey, the University of Kansas product played seven seasons with the Nets, Philadelphia, and Miami.
Teresa Weatherspoon returns for her second season with New Orleans after serving as a two-way player development coach in 2019-20. Prior to joining the Pelicans, Weatherspoon served as the director of player and franchise development with the WNBA’s New York Liberty from 2016-19. Weatherspoon served as the head coach at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech University, from 2009-14, leading the Lady Techsters to a 99-71 (.582) record over six seasons, making consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament in 2010 and 2011, and winning the WAC tournament in 2010. She initially joined the women’s basketball program at Louisiana Tech in the 2008-09 season, serving as associate head coach after serving as the head coach of the Westchester (NY) Phantoms of the American Basketball Association during the 2007-08 season. After a collegiate playing career at Louisiana Tech from 1984-88, where she helped lead her team to the 1988 NCAA National Championship during her senior campaign, Weatherspoon embarked on a 16-year playing career, beginning overseas with stops in Italy, France and Russia from 1988-1996, then joining the New York Liberty from 1997-03, and finishing her professional career as a member of the Los Angeles Sparks in 2004. In 254 career regular season games in the WNBA, Weatherspoon averaged 5.0 points, 5.3 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals while earning multiple accolades along the way, including back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards in 1997 and 1998, four consecutive All-WNBA Second Team nods from 1997-2000 and five straight All-Star appearances from 1999-2003. At the conclusion of her career, Weatherspoon was named one of the WNBA’s top 15 players of all time in 2011 and was a member of the WNBA Top 20@20 list in 2016. A 2010 inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Weatherspoon was recently enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts as part of the 2019 class.
Corey Brewer joins the Pelicans as a player development coach after a 13-year NBA career. Selected seventh overall in the 2007 NBA Draft, Brewer holds career averages of 8.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 819 regular season games for Minnesota, Dallas, Denver, Houston, the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and Sacramento. Brewer averaged 11.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists during his three-year collegiate career and was a key member of the University of Florida’s back-to-back National Championship teams in 2006 and 2007, earning the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player Award in 2007.
Darnell Lazare returns for his second season as player development coach with the Pelicans. Prior to joining the Pelicans, Lazare served as a player development coach and assistant video coordinator for the Memphis Grizzlies and previously served as an assistant coach for the NBA G League’s Iowa Energy. The Baton Rouge native played four years at Louisiana State University, where he appeared in 120 games and helped lead the Tigers to the 2006 Final Four. Lazare played professionally in the NBA G League for the Maine Red Claws, Fort Wayne Mad Ants, and Idaho Stampede, as well as overseas in Sweden, Ukraine, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Beno Udrih joins the Pelicans organization as a player development coach after most recently serving as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks’ NBA G League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks, during the 2019-20 season. Selected 28th overall in the 2004 NBA Draft, the Slovenian native holds career averages of 8.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 831 regular season games for San Antonio, Sacramento, Milwaukee, Orlando, New York, Memphis, Miami and Detroit, winning two NBA Championships with the Spurs (2005, 2007). In addition to his 13-year NBA career, Udrih has played professionally in Israel, Russia, Italy, Lithuania, and his native Slovenia, winning multiple championships across Europe.
Brian Ormandy begins his fourth season as the Pelicans’ video coordinator after serving as the team’s assistant video coordinator from 2015-17. Prior to joining the Pelicans, Ormandy served as a video intern with the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors during the 2014-15 season and the Houston Rockets during the 2013-14 season. In 2012-13, Ormandy served as a graduate assistant coach for the men’s basketball team at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Ormandy is joined by video assistants Nathan Bubes and Jon Tramer, who enter their second seasons with the Pelicans, along with player development assistant Brandon Demas, who begins his third season with the team.
