Darrell Walker (born March 9, 1961) is an American college basketball coach and retired professional player. He was most recently 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]
College
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] Walker coached for the Trojans for eight seasons, being fired by UALR on March 6, 2026 after a season with a 12–20 record.[6]
Career playing statistics
NBA
Source[7]
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
| 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 | 1999–00 | 38 | 15 | 23 | .395 | 7th in Atlantic | – | – | – | – | Missed Playoffs |
| Career | 169 | 56 | 113 | .331 | – | – | – | – |
WNBA
| 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
| 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) (2022–2026) | |||||||||
| 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 | 19–14 | 12–8 | T–3rd | |||||
| 2025–26 | Little Rock | 12–20 | 9–11 | 7th | |||||
| Little Rock: | 113–133 (.459) | 61–71 (.462) | |||||||
| Total: | 158–151 (.511) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
- ↑ "Washington fires head coach Gar Heard". CNN. January 31, 2000.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ 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.
- ↑ Harley, Michael (March 6, 2026). "University of Arkansas-Little Rock fires men's basketball Coach Darrell Walker". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
- ↑ "Darrell Walker". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved September 1, 2023.