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 four 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.
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 four 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.
In 2007-08, 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.
Last season, the Warriors ranked No. 9 in the NAIA in turnover margin,
forcing nearly four more turnovers a game than they committed. The team
also was No. 26 in steals per game and No. 29 in field goal percentage.
Under Walker, LCSC produced a first-team All America selection during
2007-08 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 his final season.
He finished his senior year ranked fourth in field goal percentage and
seventh in scoring.
During his helm, Walker has produced several players who have earned
conference and/or academic honors.
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 (16) and Jordan (2).
Assistant Coach
Tim Collins
Tim
Collins enters his second year as an assistant coach for the Warriors
and has been involved on the coaching level with college basketball for
eight seasons.
Collins also is teaching Kinesiology classes at the college.
Prior to coming to LCSC, Collins spent the previous 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 on our staff at Lewis-Clark State College,” Warrior coach Tim
Walker said. “Coach Collins brings 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, 26, 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 a degree in Humanities with a Political Science emphasis
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, Kathy, 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 at LCSC.
“Andy brings a great amount of knowledge to our program.” Warrior coach
Tim Walker said. “He played and coached under a great teacher of the
game, Mike Cole, at Bozeman High School. We are excited to have Andy on
our staff. He does a great job in many areas for us.”