RE: Little Rock to hire Darrell walker
Here is more info from the Atlanta Voice;
There has been speculation that Clark Atlanta University men’s head basketball coach Darrell Walker, in his second year with the program, has been offered the same position at the University of Arkansas Little Rock.
According to a source familiar with the program, the Atlanta Voice was notified of the offer but cannot yet confirm whether Walker has accepted the position.
Walker, a Chicago native with ties to Arkansas due to his time at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith and then as an all-conference performer at the University of Arkansas from 1980-1983, was hired by Clark Atlanta University Athletics Director J. Lin Dawson in 2016 and proceeded to turn immediately turn the program around on and off the court.
Walker, who both played and coached in the NBA, was selected by the New York Knicks with the 12th pick in the first round of the 1983 NBA draft. Over a ten-year career, he played for five teams – the Knicks, the Denver Nuggets, the Washington Bullets, the Detroit Pistons, and the Chicago Bulls.
Walker has served as head coach for two different teams—the Toronto Raptors and the Washington Wizards. He was the Raptors’ second coach, following Brendan Malone, and led the team for a season and a half.
In 2000, he replaced the fired Gar Heard in Washington for half a season (the first coaching “call up” in history, having previously been the coach of the Rockford Lightning of the CBA), but was then replaced by Leonard Hamilton the next year.
He remained in Washington as director of player personnel and later head scout before joining the Hornets as an assistant coach. In March 2012, Walker became an assistant coach with the New York Knicks, where he was on staff until 2014.
Under Walker and longtime Panthers assistant coach Alfred Jordan, the Panthers won the 2017 SIAC tournament and played in the conference tournament finals earlier this month. In the past two seasons under Walker, the Panthers have qualified for the NCAA DII tournament, a first in the program’s history.
Clark Atlanta University’s media attention rose to an all-time high the past two seasons, including feature stories in this publication, ESPN’s The Undefeated and on local news outlets. All can properly be attributed to the winning brought forth by the changes Walker made within the program.
The Panthers were 24-6 this season, losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Mar. 10 to Claflin University 72-61, at Forbes Arena on the campus of Morehouse College.
As more details surface the Atlanta Voice will provide them in both online and in print.
|