- In his fifth year as the head coach of the UIS men’s basketball program
- In 2017-18, led the Prairie Stars to their best season over the last six years
- Has over 30 years of basketball experience at the NBA, NCAA Division I, and NCAA Division II levels
Bill Walker is in his fifth season as the head coach of the University of Illinois Springfield men’s basketball team. He is the third head coach in program history.
Walker brings over 30 years of collegiate coaching experience from the Big Ten, Big 12, Missouri Valley, MIAA, and GLVC leagues. He also brings his own student-athlete experience to UIS as he was an all-conference selection at Missouri-Rolla, now Missouri S&T, under Billy Key.
The veteran coach has coached and developed more than 50 student-athletes who went on to play professionally. He was responsible for coaching and/or recruiting players such as DeAndre Jordan and Khris Middleton, among others, who are on active NBA rosters this season.
In his first four years at UIS, Walker has an overall record of 45-66, including 20 wins in GLVC play. The Prairie Stars have advanced to the GLVC tournament twice in his coaching era.
In 2017-18, Walker led UIS to its best season in six years as the Prairie Stats went 14-14 in the regular season and 6-12 in conference action. He helped coach Eddie Longmeyer to second-team all-GLVC honors, the first UIS player to earn that honor since 2012-13.
In his first three seasons in Springfield, the Prairie Stars won 29 games, and UIS made the GLVC Tournaments in 2015 and 2016.
Walker came to UIS after spending one season as an assistant coach at Drake University. Among the players he coached was Richard Carter, who earned honorable mention all-MVC honors.
Prior to Drake, Walker served as a scout for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets, now Pelicans. Walker also spent time on Mark Turgeon's staff at Texas A&M from 2007-11. During his four years at Texas A&M, he oversaw the development of three future NBA players in Jordan, Middleton, and Donald Sloan as the Aggies went 97-40 and made four straight NCAA appearances.
Before moving south, Walker was an assistant at the University of Minnesota for seven seasons and helped the Golden Gophers to five winning seasons, one NCAA Tournament berth, and four appearances in the NIT. Walker was responsible for recruiting Big Ten Freshman of the Year Kris Humphries, who was a first-round lottery pick by the Utah Jazz in 2005. He also recruited 2005 All-Big Ten first team performer Vincent Grier, and the 2001 recruiting class that was ranked among the top-10 in the nation by many publications and included 2002 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Rick Rickert.
No stranger to Division II, Walker came to the Golden Gophers after three seasons as the top assistant coach at Central Missouri from 1996-99, a traditional power in Division-II. He helped the Mules post a 49-35 record, including a 21-7 mark in his first season that led to an NCAA tournament berth. Walker was responsible for recruiting Antonio Rivers, a Division II All-American who had a long professional career.
Prior to his stint at Central Missouri, Walker was an assistant at GLVC foe Missouri-St. Louis for seven seasons. His recruiting efforts led to five straight seasons with at least one student-athlete earning all-conference freshman team honors, including two who were named MIAA Freshman of the Year.
Walker began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant under Hall of Fame Coach Gene Bartow at Alabama-Birmingham in 1987-89, and helped the Blazers to a third-place finish in the 1989 NIT.
A native of Warrensburg, Mo., Walker was a standout player at Warrensburg High School. In his three years with the Tigers, he helped them to a 73-6 record, earning first-team all-state honors as a senior. He played one season at State Fair Community College, before transferring to Missouri-Rolla where he played for three seasons.
Walker earned a bachelor's degree in history from Missouri-Rolla and a master's degree in education from UAB.
He hails from a family with a rich pedigree in college athletics as his father, Floyd, was the athletic director at Central Missouri and is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Director of Athletics Hall of Fame. His sister, Barbara, is the associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at Wake Forest.
Walker and his wife, Karen, have two children, Vincent and Claire.
