Coach Darrell Walker is in his eighth season as the Trojan’s head basketball coach and brings extensive basketball experience to Little Rock.
Walker has experience at both the collegiate and professional level. His playing experience includes three years at the University of Arkansas and 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association, followed by a 20-year professional coaching career, including serving as head coach for two different NBA franchises.
He is the only active coach with head coaching experience at the NBA, WNBA, Division I and Division II levels.
In his fifth season at the helm of the Trojans, Walker guided Little Rock to the top of the Ohio Valley Conference. The Trojans won the 2023 OVC Regular Season, placed 2nd in the OVC Tournament, and Walker was named the 2023 OVC Coach of the Year. The Trojans finished 21-13 on the 2023-24 season. The National Association of Basketball Coaches named Walker as All-District Coach of the Year, while players KK Robinson and Jamir Chaplin earned first and second team honors.
In his second season with the Trojans, Walker guided Little Rock to one of the top turnarounds in the nation. After finishing the 2018-19 season with a 10-21 mark, and picked to finish 11th in the Sun Belt preseason poll, Walker guided Little Rock to the outright Sun Belt Conference regular season title with a 21-10 record, including going 15-5 in conference play. The turnaround garnered Walker Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors, becoming just the fourth Trojan head coach to earn that accolade.
Prior to coming to Little Rock, Walker spent two seasons as the head coach at Clark Atlanta University, compiling an overall record of 45-18 and leading the Panthers to back-to-back NCAA Division II tournament appearances.
In 2017-18, Walker guided the Panthers to a 25-6 mark, including a 16-3 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) record, finishing second in the SIAC East division. Clark Atlanta advanced to the SIAC tournament title game, falling to Claflin.
In his first season in Atlanta (2016-17), Walker’s Panthers went 21-12 and 12-5 in SIAC play, tying for first in the SIAC East. Clark Atlanta captured the 2017 SIAC tournament title, downing Fort Valley State 64-62 in the championship game.
His time in Atlanta marked Walker’s first collegiate coaching experience following 20 years of coaching professionally. Walker served as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors from 1996-98 and the Washington Wizards in 2000, tallying 56 career victories at the NBA level.
Walker also spent time as the head coach of the Rockford Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association and the Washington Mystics of the WNBA. He served as an assistant coach in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors (1995-96), New Orleans Hornets (2004-08), Detroit Pistons (2008-11) and New York Knicks (2012-14).
A native of Chicago, Walker played one season at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, where he was honored on the Arkansas Juco All Conference 1st team, before spending three seasons at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Under Hall of Fame head coach Eddie Sutton, Walker amassed 1,325 points, ranking 18th all-time on the Razorback scoring list, while ranking fourth in program steals (230) and sixth in free throws made (524). Walker earned his degree in human resources from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
He was named a consensus second team All-American and a first team NABC All-District selection in 1983, helping Arkansas reach the Sweet 16 in both 1981 and 1983. Walker was the two-time Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year, being named to the 1983 NABC All-Star game. He also was named Player of the Year in 1983.
Walker was the 12th overall pick by the New York Knicks in the 1983 NBA Draft, beginning a 10-year NBA career in which he suited up for five different teams. Walker averaged 8.9 points, 4.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game during his professional career, playing for NBA Hall of Fame coaches Hubie Brown, Wes Unseld, Chuck Daly and Phil Jackson.
He was named to the 1984 First Team NBA All-Rookie Team and nearly averaged a triple-double in 1989-90 in Washington, averaging 9.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. He closed out his playing career as a member of the NBA champion Chicago Bulls in 1993.
His honors begin at Corliss High School, where he was a part of the 1977-78 All-Section team, the 1978-79 All State Basketball team and McDonald’s All American team, as well as the 1979 Chicago All City team.
Walker was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2003, as well as being inducted into the University of Arkansas Hall of Honor in 2008. He was named into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame in 2017. He and his wife Lisa, a former All-American sprinter at Arkansas, hold a unique distinction as the only husband-wife tandem inducted into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame. Walker is also a member of the Westark Hall of Fame, Illinois Hall of Fame, and Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.
THE WALKER FILE
PERSONAL
Hometown: Chicago, Ill
High School: Corliss H.S.
College: University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
PLAYING EXPERIENCE
1980-81: Westark Community College (now Arkansas-Fort Smith)
1981-83: University of Arkansas-Fayetteville
1983-86: New York Knicks
1986-87: Denver Nuggets
1988-91: Washington Bullets
1991-92: Detroit Pistons
1993: Chicago Bulls
COACHING EXPERIENCE
1995-96: Toronto Raptors (Asst. coach)
1996-98: Toronto Raptors (Head coach)
1999-2000: Rockford Lightning (Head coach)
2000: Washington Wizards (Head coach)
2000: Washington Mystics (Head coach)
2004-08: New Orleans Hornets (Asst. coach)
2008-11: Detroit Pistons (Asst. coach)
2012-14: New York Knicks (Asst. coach)
2016-18: Clark Atlanta (Head coach)
2018-Pres: Little Rock (Head coach)
