Dec. 16, 2003

Former South Carolina All-America Brian Winters was named as the new head coach of the Indiana Fever on Thursday, December 11th. Winters spent 24 years in the NBA as a player,assistant and head coach after his three years with South Carolina.

Originally from Rockaway Park, New York, Winters lettered for the 1972, 1973 and 1974 Frank McGuire South Carolina team and was named as an All-America in his senior year. The team captain during the 1973-74 season, Winters scored 1,079 points in 82 games as a Gamecock.

Selected in the first round by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1974 NBA Draft, Winters spent one season with the Lakers before being traded to Milwaukee where he spent the next eight seasons. Winters averaged 16.2 points in his nine NBA seasons and is one of nine Milwaukee Bucks players to have his number retired.

After leaving the playing ranks, WInters began his coaching career at Princeton as an assistant to Pete Carril before joining the NBA staff of Lenny Wilkens in Cleveland and Atlanta. In 1995, Winters was named as the very first head coach of the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies for the 1996 and 1997. He took over in Golden State early in the 2001-02 season after Dave Cowens was let go.

He has played for or worked with four members of the Basketball Hall of Fame (Pete Carril, Frank McGuire, Bill Sharman and Lenny Wilkens).