Grayer was an All-American college player for the Iowa State Cyclones and won an Olympic bronze medal as a member of the United States national team in 1988.

As a shooting guard, Grayer starred at Iowa State University from 1985 to 1988 where he set (and still holds) the all-time career scoring record, with 2,502 points.

[2] In April 2010, Grayer was hired by Greg McDermott as an assistant men's basketball coach at Iowa State.

[1] In August 2010, after McDermott left to take a position at Creighton University he was replaced by new coach Fred Hoiberg.

Hoiberg retained Grayer as Director of Basketball Operations rather than as an assistant coach, and Grayer left shortly after and returned to his home state of Michigan, citing a desire to be a coach as his reason for leaving.