BOSTON, Mass. - Little Rock men's basketball head coach
Darrell Walker was announced as one of the 25 finalists for the 2023-24 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year award. The award is presented annually to the top minority head coach in Division I college basketball.
Walker received All-District Coach of the Year today after leading the team to a 21-12 overall record, their first 20-win season since 2019-20, and a 14-4 OVC record that secured the team's first-ever OVC Regular Season Championship and No. 1 seed in the OVC Tournament. The OVC Coach of the Year became only the 24th head coach since 2020 to be named Coach of the Year multiple times as he garnered the Sun Belt Coach of the Year honor with Little Rock in 2020. He also has led the program to be one of 38 schools in the nation to win multiple regular season conference championships since 2020. The Trojans boasted the longest winning steak in the country prior to the OVC Championship game at ten games. Walker leads the team to their first postseason appearance since 2016 at the Ro CBI Tournament this weekend.
The Ben Jobe award is named in honor of one the most iconic coaches in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee, and South Carolina State.
His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.
Coach Jobe passed away on March 10, 2017.
The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.
The 2024 award will be announced in Phoenix, AZ, site of the men's Division I Basketball Championship.
2024 BEN JOBE AWARD FINALISTS
Amir Abdur-Rahim - South Florida
Tony Barbee - Central Michigan
Kenny Blakeney - Howard
Alvin Brooks - Lamar
Craig Claxton - Hofstra
Donald Copeland - Wagner
Hubert Davis - North Carolina
Corey Gipson - Austin Peay
Justin Gray - Western Carolina
Talvin Hester - Louisiana Tech
Donte' Jackson - Grambling
Kevin Johnson - Southern
James Jones - Yale
Mike Jones - UNCG
Robert Jones - Norfolk State
Erik Martin - South Carolina State
Bashir Mason - Saint Peter's
Lamont Paris - South Carolina
Tevon Saddler - Nicholls
Kelvin Sampson - Houston
Patrick Sellers - Central Connecticut
Shaka Smart - Marquette
K.T. Turner - UT Arlington
Drew Valentine - Loyola Chicago
Darrell Walker - Little Rock
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