Darrell Walker

Darrell Walker
	Walker in 2013
Little Rock Trojans
Position	Head coach
League	Ohio Valley Conference
Personal information
Born	March 9, 1961 (age 63); Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school	Corliss (Chicago, Illinois)
College	Arkansas–Fort Smith (1979–1980); Arkansas (1980–1983);
NBA draft	1983: 1st round, 12th overall pick
	Selected by the New York Knicks
Playing career	1983–1993
Position	Point guard / shooting guard
Number	4, 5, 20
Career history
As player:
1983–1986	New York Knicks
1986–1987	Denver Nuggets
1988–1991	Washington Bullets
1991–1992	Detroit Pistons
1993	Chicago Bulls
As coach:
1995–1996	Toronto Raptors (assistant)
1996–1998	Toronto Raptors
1999–2000	Rockford Lightning
2000	Washington Wizards
2000	Washington Mystics (interim)
2004–2008	New Orleans Hornets (assistant)
2008–2011	Detroit Pistons (assistant)
2012–2014	New York Knicks (assistant)
2016–2018	Clark Atlanta
2018–present	Little Rock
Career highlights and awards
	As player: NBA champion (1993); NBA All-Rookie First Team (1984); Consensus second-team All-American (1983); SWC co-Player of the Year (1983); First-team All-SWC (1983); As coach: SIAC tournament champion (2017); Sun Belt regular season champion (2020); OVC regular season champion (2024); Sun Belt Coach of the Year (2020); OVC Coach of the Year (2024);
Career statistics
Points	6,389 (8.9 ppg)
Assists	3,276 (4.6 apg)
Steals	1,090 (1.5 spg)
	Stats at NBA.com
	Stats at Basketball Reference

Darrell Walker (born March 9, 1961) is an American college basketball coach and retired professional player. He is currently head men's coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Walker played in National Basketball Association (NBA) for 10 seasons, winning an NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1993. He played college basketball for Westark Community College and the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Playing career

After graduating from Chicago's Corliss High School, Walker played college basketball at Westark Community College (now the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith) and the University of Arkansas. He 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 is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Walker was selected to the 1984 NBA All-Rookie team, and was among the league leaders during his career in assists and steals. His best season was in 1989–90 with the Washington Bullets when he averaged 9.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. He won an NBA title with the Chicago Bulls in his final season.

Coaching career

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^[1] 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. Later that same year, he was named the interim head coach of the Washington Mystics of the WNBA, replacing Nancy Darsch who resigned during the season.^[2] He remained in Washington as director of player personnel and later head scout before joining the Hornets as assistant coach.

In March 2012, Walker became an assistant coach with the New York Knicks, where he was on staff until 2014.^[3]

Walker was named the head coach at Clark Atlanta University in 2016.^[4] In two seasons with the Panthers, Walker guided the team to a 45–18 overall record a SIAC conference tournament championship, and two appearances in the NCAA Division II tournament.

On March 27, 2018, Walker was named the head men's basketball coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.^[5]

Career playing statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
†	Won an NBA championship	*	Led the league

NBA

Source^[6]

Regular season


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1983–84	New York	82*	0	16.1	.417	.267	.791	2.0	3.5	1.5	.2	7.9
1984–85	New York	82*	66	30.4	.435	.000	.700	3.4	5.0	2.0	.3	13.5
1985–86	New York	81	35	25.0	.430	.000	.686	2.7	4.2	1.8	.4	10.3
1986–87	Denver	81	25	24.9	.482	.000	.745	4.0	3.5	1.5	.5	12.2
1987–88	Washington	52	0	18.1	.392	.000	.781	2.4	1.9	1.2	.2	6.0
1988–89	Washington	79	78	32.5	.420	.000	.772	6.4	6.3	2.0	.3	9.0
1989–90	Washington	81	81	35.6	.454	.095	.687	8.8	8.0	1.7	.4	9.5
1990–91	Washington	71	65	32.5	.430	.000	.604	7.0	6.5	1.1	.5	7.8
1991–92	Detroit	74	4	20.8	.423	.000	.619	3.2	2.8	.9	.2	5.2
1992–93	Detroit	9	2	16.0	.158	.000	.333	2.1	1.0	1.1	.0	.9
1992–93†	Chicago	28	0	13.1	.403	–	.500	1.4	1.6	.8	.1	2.6
Career		720	356	25.8	.435	.059	.713	4.4	4.6	1.5	.3	8.9

Playoffs


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1984	New York	12		16.3	.370	–	.609	2.9	1.7	2.0	.2	6.8
1987	Denver	3	3	22.7	.324	–	.571	3.3	1.7	.7	.0	8.7
1988	Washington	5	0	31.0	.407	.000	.688	4.8	2.8	1.4	.8	11.0
1992	Detroit	5	0	13.6	.333	–	1.000	2.4	.8	.2	.0	2.0
1993†	Chicago	9	0	2.4	.250	–	.667	.1	.6	.0	.0	.4
Career		34	3	14.9	.368	.000	.645	2.4	1.4	1.0	.2	5.2

Head coaching record

NBA

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %


Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
Toronto	1996–97	82	30	52	.366	8th in Central	–	–	–	–	Missed Playoffs
Toronto	1997–98	49	11	38	.224	(fired)	–	–	–	–	–
Washington	1999–2000	38	15	23	.395	7th in Atlantic	–	–	–	–	Missed Playoffs
Career		169	56	113	.331		–	–	–	–

WNBA

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %


Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
Washington	2000	12	5	7	.417	4th in East	2	0	2	.000	Lost in Conference semifinals
Career		12	5	7	.417		2	0	2	.000

College

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Clark Atlanta Panthers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (2016–2018)
2016–17	Clark Atlanta	21–12	12–5	2nd (East)	NCAA Division II First Round
2017–18	Clark Atlanta	24–6	16–3	2nd (East)	NCAA Division II First Round
Clark Atlanta:		45–18 (.714)	28–8 (.778)
Little Rock Trojans (Sun Belt Conference) (2018–2022)
2018–19	Little Rock	10–21	5–13	T–11th
2019–20	Little Rock	21–10	15–5	1st	No postseason held
2020–21	Little Rock	11–15	7–11	5th (West)
2021–22	Little Rock	9–19	3–11	12th
Little Rock Trojans (Ohio Valley Conference) (2022–present)
2022–23	Little Rock	10–21	6–12	T–8th
2023–24	Little Rock	21–13	14–4	T–1st	CBI First Round
2024–25	Little Rock	3–4	0–0
Little Rock:		85–103 (.452)	50–56 (.472)
Total:		130–121 (.518)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

References

^ "Washington fires head coach Gar Heard". CNN. January 31, 2000. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.
^ White, Joseph (July 15, 2000). "Darsch quits as Mystics coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ "Jim Todd, Darrell Walker join Knicks interim coach Mike Woodson's staff as assistants". The Washington Post. Associated Press. March 17, 2012. Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
^ "Clark Atlanta University Athletics". Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
^ "Darrell Walker Named Head Men's Basketball Coach". lrtrojans.com. March 27, 2018.
^ "Darrell Walker". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved September 1, 2023.

External links

[1] "Washington fires head coach Gar Heard". CNN. January 31, 2000. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.

[2] White, Joseph (July 15, 2000). "Darsch quits as Mystics coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

[knicks_hire-3] "Jim Todd, Darrell Walker join Knicks interim coach Mike Woodson's staff as assistants". The Washington Post. Associated Press. March 17, 2012. Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2012.

[4] "Clark Atlanta University Athletics". Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2018.

[5] "Darrell Walker Named Head Men's Basketball Coach". lrtrojans.com. March 27, 2018.

[6] "Darrell Walker". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved September 1, 2023.

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