Football
Sep 12 (Fri)
5:30 PM
- Title:
- Assistant Coach/Wide Receivers/Recruiting Coordinator
- Email:
- troy.walters@colorado.edu
Troy Walters is in his third year as the wide receivers coach at the University of Colorado, joining new head coach Mike MacIntyre’s staff on January 9, 2013. He also handles recruiting coordinator duties for the program.
Walters, 38, came to CU from North Carolina State, where he coached the wide receivers for one season under head coach Tom O’Brien.
In his first two years at Colorado, he has coached two of the top five or six receivers all-time in Colorado history in Paul Richardson and Nelson Spruce. Richardson, who earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors, set school single-season marks for receptions (83) and yards (1,343), two of the 44 records he established for shared in his CU career; he was the first Buff wide receiver to earn first-team All-Conference honors since 1997 (Phil Savoy in the old Big 8). Spruce, who earned second-team All-Pac-12 mention, broke Richardson’s reception mark with 106 for 1,198 yards, and also set the single-season TD reception mark with 12 (two of the 31 records he set).
Walters’ coaching has been especially evident in his influence on yards after the catch – in 2013, CU’s average per completion was a 12-year high.
At N.C. State, he tutored a trio of balanced receivers – Tobais Palmer, Quintin Payton and Bryan Underwood – to a combined 149 catches for 2,199 yards and 18 touchdowns (with seven 100-yard games), as all had at least 44 receptions and 620 yards. He spent the previous two seasons (2010-11) on Mike Sherman’s staff at Texas A&M, where he coached a pair of school record-setting receivers in Ryan Swope and Jeff Fuller. In 2010, both players set the A&M record for single-season receptions with 72, while Fuller set the mark for receiving yards with 1,066. A year later, Swope broke both of those marks with 89 catches for 1,207 yards.
Walters began his coaching career at Indiana State under Trent Miles, where he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks and receivers coach for the 2009 season.
He lettered four times at wide receiver for Coach Tyrone Willingham at Stanford from 1996-99. As a senior in 1999, he was a consensus All-American, the recipient of the Biletnikoff Award, presented to the nation’s top wide receiver, and the Pac-10 Conference Offensive Player of the Year. That season, he had 74 receptions for 1,456 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 19.7 yards per catch and 132.4 yards per game (with a long catch of 98 yards). He also led the Cardinal in all-purpose yards (1,871) in helping Stanford to an 8-4 record, its first Pac-10 championship since 1971 and a berth in the Rose Bowl opposite Wisconsin. He was a first-team All-Pac 10 performer as a sophomore in 1997 (kick returner) and in 1999, while garnering second-team honors as a junior in 1998.
He still holds the Stanford records for receptions: career (244, also a Pac-10 best) and single-season (86 in 1997) as well as yards: career (3,986), single-season (1,456 in 1999) and single-game (278 versus UCLA in 1999). His career 26 touchdowns are now the second-most, but he still holds the mark for most 100-yard games (19).
He graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in Communications in 1999, earning Academic All-America honors as a senior and was twice honored on the All-Pac 10 Academic Team. He earned his master’s degree in Sociology (organizational behavior) from Stanford in 2000.
A fifth round draft choice by Minnesota in the 2000 National Football League draft, he played eight years in the NFL with the Vikings (2000-01), Indianapolis (2002-05), Arizona (2006) and Detroit (2007). He played in 98 games as a professional, making 98 receptions for 1,135 yards and nine touchdowns, with 117 kickoff returns for 2,594 yards (22.2 avg.) and 139 punt returns for 1,241 yards (8.9 per). His top season as a receiver came in 2003 with the Colts, when he caught 36 passes thrown to him by Peyton Manning, for 456 yards and three touchdowns; Indianapolis qualified for the playoffs all four of his seasons with the team.
He was born December 15, 1976 in Bloomington, Ind., and graduated from A&M Consolidated High School (College Station, Texas), where he lettered in football, basketball and track. He is the son of long-time college and NFL coach Trent Walters (coaching stops included Indiana, Louisville, Washington and Notre Dame in college and Minnesota and Cincinnati in the pros). His hobbies include golf and traveling. He is married to the former Josephine Jackson, and the couple has two children, son Tate Jackson (2) and daughter Faith (born last October).
RECORD—He has coached in 63 Division I-A (FBS) games as a full-time coach, including three bowl games (2011 Cotton, 2011 Meineke Car Care, 2012 Music City).
| COACHING EXPERIENCE | ||
| 2009 | Indiana State | Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks & Receivers |
| 2010-11 | Texas A&M | Receivers |
| 2012 | North Carolina State | Receivers |
| 2013- | Colorado | Receivers / Recruiting Coordinator |
