Track and Field Announces Hiring of Joe Walker
June 15, 2011 | Men's Track and Field
June 15, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville track and field coach Ron Mann has announced the hiring of Joe Walker, who has guided his athletes to seven national titles and 23 Southeastern Conference titles, as an assistant coach on Wednesday.
"We're excited to have a coach of the caliber of Joe Walker come to Louisville with his experience in the SEC," Mann says. "He has an extensive background, with a coaching family. He's actually Joe Walker, III. Joe Walker, II, is the head coach at Ole Miss. They're a very accomplished family in the area of track and field, so we're excited to add him to our staff, and we're excited about the capabilities he brings for the future of this program."
Walker comes to Louisville after spending the past 11 seasons at Alabama, where he served as the head men's cross country coach and an assistant for the men's track and field team. Under his guidance, the Crimson Tide posted four-straight top-15 finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including sixth in 2007, 10th in 2008 and third in 2009. Additionally, his group captured the NCAA South Region title on eight occasions (2000, 2001, 2005-10). At the conference level, the Crimson Tide won back-to-back team cross country titles (2008-09).
"I am very excited about the opportunity to join the staff at Louisville," Walker adds. "I encountered a great group of people, led by someone I truly respect in Ron Mann. I feel that it is a tremendous opportunity for my family and I. Tom Jurich has established Louisville as a destination for anyone interested in athletics, especially Olympic sports. The family atmosphere and the way that they put people first are what ultimately made my decision a very easy one."
Individually, the Oxford, Miss., native has coached three SEC male cross country athletes of the year (four occasions) and 34 All-Americans (events ranging from 800m-10,000m and cross country). Also, cross country athletes have achieved all-South Region accolades on 42 different occasions. For his efforts, Walker was named the SEC Cross Country Coach of the Year three times (2001, 2008-09) and the USTFCCCA South Region Coach of the Year six times (2000-01, 2007-10).
Academically, Walker's group has been just as successful, garnering USTFCCCA All-Academic Team awards eight times, with a cross country student-athlete earning the prestigious NCAA Elite 88 Award. The honor recognizes the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating in the finals for each of the NCAA's 88 championships.
Prior to his stint at Alabama, Walker served as an assistant coach at South Alabama (1998-2000). He led the Jaguars to the NCAA Cross Country Championships and members of the track team to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. In 1999, USA captured the Sun Belt Conference cross country team championship and later won the women's indoor track and field title at the league's championships.
From 1995-98, he was the men's and women's head track and field and cross country coach at Meridian (Miss.) Community College, where he guided the program to a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) title in track and field and cross country (1996-97) and three runner-up finishes. Twice, he was NJCAA National Indoor Championship Coach of the Meet.
Walker earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science from Ole Miss, with a minor in business administration. While there from 1991-94, he was an academic all-SEC performer for the Rebels and a member of the world-ranked 4x1,500m squad in 1994. He finished his career with the third-fastest 3,000m mark in school history.
He and his wife, Carol Ann, have a son, Joseph Kai (8), and a daughter, Maia Malin (5).
Walker replaces Brice Allen, who left to participate in his family owned business.
For all of the latest information on Louisville cross country and track and field, log on to uoflsports.com, or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/louisvilletrack.
