Chris Walker Named Interim Head Coach
By: Blayne Beal- Texas Tech University
Updated: October 4, 2012
LUBBOCK, Texas -
Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt has named Chris Walker the interim
head basketball coach at Texas Tech for the 2012-13 season.
The decision was announced Thursday afternoon at a news conference held at the United Spirit Arena.
"Chris
Walker has demonstrated tremendous leadership over the past month,
enabling our basketball program to move forward," Hocutt said. "His
ability to lead and manage
the current situation has been very commendable. Above all else, he has
placed the well-being of the young men on our team at the forefront of
his energy and focus. I am confident in his ability to lead our program
forward."
Walker,
who served as associate head coach last season, takes over the program
after Billy Gillispie submitted his letter of resignation on Sept. 19,
citing health concerns.
He joined the Red Raider program in 2011 after spending two seasons as
an assistant coach at Villanova.
"I
want to thank Kirby Hocutt, (President) Dr. Lawrence Schovanec and
Chancellor Kent Hance for entrusting me with this opportunity to lead
this program as we move forward,"
said Walker. "I have been blessed with the good fortune to work for
excellent head coaches and I am prepared to take on this challenge.
"I
am excited about our team and what we can accomplish this season. We
will have a great attitude and play hard, play together, play smart and
play with pride every
time we step on the floor. Some will measure our success with how many
wins we have, but we will measure our success by how hard we will play
for the name on the front the jersey."
With
17 years of collegiate coaching experience, Walker has been a part of
eight postseason squads, including four NCAA Tournament teams. He has
coached three NBA first
round draft picks - Brandon Armstrong (Pepperdine), Michael Bradley
(Villanova), J.R. Giddens (New Mexico) - and the first overall pick of
the second round - Dan Langhi (Vanderbilt).
At
Villanova, Walker was responsible for on-court teaching and
development, recruiting and scouting, when the Wildcats went 46-20 with a
pair of trips to the NCAA Tournament.
He saw three Villanova players earn All-BIG East honors and one, Scottie
Reynolds, was a consensus All-America selection.
Walker
also served as an assistant under Wright for the2010 USA Select Team.
The USA Select Team consists of juniors and seniors out of the college
ranks that are brought
in to scrimmage against the USA National Team.
Walker
spent two seasons at the University of New Mexico as an assistant for
Steve Alford from 2007-09. He was instrumental in helping turnaround a
team that finished
eighth in a nine-team Mountain West Conference in 2007 to tying for the
conference crown in 2009. Along the way, the Lobosrecorded a 46-21
record and made a pair of NIT appearances during Alford's first two
seasons at the helm.
Walker
spent three seasons at the University of Massachusetts where he was an
assistant under head coach Steve Lappas. He was on the Minutemen
sidelines from 2001-05.
That included a one-year hiatus from collegiate coaching during the
2003-04 season, when he was the President and CEO of Spearhead Sports
LLC in his native Houston.
He
spent the 2000-01 season on Lappas' staff at Villanova before
accompanying Lappas to UMass. He was also the associate head coach at
both Pepperdine (1999-00) and
Vanderbilt (1996-99). He began his coaching career at Loyola Marymount
in 1992.
After
a stellar prep career at Houston Milby High School, Walker went on to
Villanova in 1988 to play for head coach Rollie Massimino. As a player,
Walker started 96
games at point guard and helped the Wildcats make two NCAA Tournament
appearances and two NIT appearances. At the time of hisgraduation, his
404 career assists ranked seventh on the school's all-time list and his
185 career steals ranked fourth. He was twice
chosen to the All-Philadelphia Big Five squad.
Born on Christmas Day, Walker graduated from Villanova in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications.
