Head Coach Tim
Walker
tdwalker@lcsc.edu
Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball coach Tim Walker has made his
mark on the Warrior program in his three years at the helm. He has
coached the Warriors to two consecutive Frontier Conference regular
season and tournament titles and is the only coach in program history to
lead the team to two berths in the NAIA national tournament in the first
three years. Over the past two seasons, the Warriors are a
combined 48-17 (.738 winning percentage) and finished last year ranked
No. 21 in the country.
Overall,
LCSC has made six trips to the national tournament and Walker has been a
part in all but one of them, including three as an assistant coach and
two as head coach.
During
Walker’s three seasons at the helm, the Warriors have been consistently
among the NAIA leaders in defense. During the 2006-07 season, LCSC gave
up only 60.3 points per game, which ranked second in the country. The
team also went 26-7, which is the second most wins in school history for
a season. That season, Walker was selected by his fellow coaches as the
Frontier Conference Coach of the Year.
Last
season, the Warriors went 22-10 and ranked No. 4 in the country in
turnover margin, No. 8 in steals, No. 15 in field goal percentage, and
No. 17 in scoring margin. LCSC outscored its opponents by nearly 10
points a game.
Under
Walker, LCSC produced a first-team All America selection last year in
senior Mike Gordy, who was a second-team selection as a junior. Gordy, a
6-foot-5 forward from Denver, also was the conference MVP twice and also
was the conference tournament’s MVP last season. He finished last year
ranked fourth in field goal percentage and seventh in scoring.
Over the
past three seasons, Walker has produced several players who have earned
conference and/or academic honors. Napoleon Gordon Jr. was selected the
conference’s Freshman of the Year in 2007, and followed that up with the
Defensive Player of the Year last season.
Walker
became LCSC’s third men’s basketball coach in the last 32 years when he
was hired in May of 2005. During the previous four seasons, Walker
served as an assistant coach at LCSC when the Warriors went 103-34
during that time and qualified for the national tournament three times.
Prior to LCSC, Walker was head coach at Montana State-Northern from
1997-2001, where he was the Frontier Conference Coach of the Year for
the 1997-98 season. That team set a school record with 26 victories and
advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NAIA National Tournament. He posted an
overall record of 72-55 at the school, one of the highest winning
percentages in the league over that period of time. He also
coached three All-Americans, while his players held a graduation rate of
90-plus percent. Prior to becoming the head coach at MSU-Northern,
Walker served as the assistant for three years, helping lead the Lights
to their first-ever league title and an Elite Eight finish at the NAIA
National Tournament.
Walker began his coaching career at Columbus High School from 1991-1993,
where he also taught History and Political Science, while coaching
football and basketball.
A native
of Absarokee, Montana, he played basketball and graduated from Rocky
Mountain College in Billings, MT. He later received his Masters Degree
in Education-Guidance and Counseling at Montana State-Northern in Havre,
MT.
Tim and
his wife Lynette have two sons, Jake (15) and Jordan (1).
Assistant Coach
Tim Collins
Tim Collins, who has been working on
college basketball staffs the past seven years, is the new assistant
coach for the men’s basketball program this season.
Collins
also is teaching some Kinesiology classes at the college.
Collins
spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Chadron State in
Nebraska. The Eagles’ men’s basketball team is an NCAA Division II
member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and helped the program
make big strides under head coach Brent Bargen. The Eagles’ roster
included a number of players from California recruited by Collins.
Prior to
that, Collins was director of basketball operations at Cal-State
Fullerton for one season under coach Bob Burton.
"We are very excited to have someone of
Tim's passion, attitude, and work ethic join our staff at Lewis-Clark
State College,” Warrior coach Tim Walker said. “Coach Collins will
bring an incredible amount of knowledge to our program and campus. He's
a very good teacher and coach, excellent recruiter, and a young man of
great character."
Collins,
25, began his coaching career by serving as a student assistant to the
Loyola Marymount program for four years under coach Steve Aggers, who
was also head coach at Eastern Washington University.
“All three head coaches that I have worked for have been
great role models for me as a young coach. They were all very
competitive and they believed in the full development of the
student-athlete.” Collins said.
Collins
earned degrees in both Political Science and Humanities from Loyola
Marymount in 2005 and then earned a Master’s degree in Sports Management
and Organizational Management from Chadron State.
Collins
grew up in Santa Monica, Calif., and attended Loyola High School in Los
Angeles, where he competed on the basketball and track teams.
Collins’ says his family has been influential on his
careers in coaching and education. He is extremely close with his mother
who teaches in high school education. Likewise, his uncle Terry Collins
is currently the head coach at Daley College, a junior college located
in Chicago.
Student Assistant Coach Andy Johnson
Andy Johnson joined the
Warrior men’s basketball program in the fall of 2007 as a student
assistant coach. Andy began his basketball coaching career with the
Bozeman, Montana school system (2000-2004) as a coach in their seventh
and eighth grade programs. From 2005 to 2007, Andy was an assistant
coach at Bozeman High School. During that time he was the head freshman
coach and varsity assistant. A 1999 graduate of Bozeman High School,
he played high school basketball for four years and started on the
Montana AA state championship team. Andy is majoring in Kinesiology –
Sports Administration / Coaching.
