Rutherford had a three-year college career with Oklahoma State, where as a senior in 1995 he helped the Cowboys make their first Final Four appearance in 45 years.
With the Brisbane Bullets in Australia, he led the league in scoring and earned All-NBL Second Team honors in 2002.
Born in Idabel, Oklahoma, Rutherford was raised in the nearby football-crazed town of Broken Bow.
[2] Rutherford attended Broken Bow High School, where he played three years of basketball for the Savages.
However, by the end of his senior year at Broken Bow, he had not qualified academically for Division I after not meeting Proposition 48 guidelines.
[6] Rutherford initially indicated he would attend OSU and sit out the 1990–91 season after learning he was only one point shy of the necessary 18 on his ACT.
Oklahoma State lost to eventual national champion UCLA 74–61 in the semifinals, despite Rutherford's 15 points.
[10] He ultimately went undrafted and was picked up by the Oklahoma City Cavalry in the third round of the CBA draft in September 1995.
[26] In his second season with the Bullets, Rutherford earned All-NBL Second Team honors and led the league in scoring with 25.0 points per game.
[24][33] After retiring from playing basketball, Rutherford returned to OSU and served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for four years.
[9] In May 2008, Rutherford was appointed head coach of the boys basketball team at Tulsa Central.
[37] In July 2018, Rutherford was appointed head coach of the boys basketball team at McLain High School in Tulsa.