Grand Canyon assistant Jamall Walker joining Buckeyes staff
COLUMBUS — Jake Diebler is bringing aboard Grand Canyon assistant Jamall Walker to join the Buckeyes’ new coaching staff.
Walker has spent the last four seasons under head coach Bryce Drew, who Diebler played for at Valparaiso — including while Bryce was associate head coach — and then worked with at both Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.
“I could not be more happy to welcome Jamall and his family to the Ohio State basketball family,” Diebler said in a statement Wednesday.
“Jamall’s recruiting success, his experience in the Big Ten as well as working with a coach like Bryce Drew were all really important intangibles that I was looking for when filling out a staff. He’s got a great defensive mind and a tremendous ability to connect with players. He’s going to be a great asset for our program.”
Walker’s run with the Lopes included three WAC Tournament titles and, as a result, three trips to the NCAA Tournament, the most recent of which saw Grand Canyon reach the 30-win mark for the first time in program history with a first-round upset victory over 5-seed Saint Mary’s. The Lopes ranked 46th nationally this season with only 67.0 points per game allowed.
Before taking his gig in Phoenix, Arizona, Walker was an assistant coach at Illinois for eight seasons. He first served under John Groce, and then Brad Underwood took over. In between, Walker was called upon to be the Fighting Illini’s interim head coach for the 2017 NIT Tournament. He wound up leading them to postseason wins over Valparaiso and Boise State before Illinois bowed out in the quarterfinals.
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Not only will Walker’s move to Ohio State be a return to the Big Ten, but it will also be a return to Ohio. He spent three total seasons at Ohio University across two separate stints (2010-12) and (2008-09), both under Groce. The more recent of those two saw him help the Bobcats reach 29 wins and the Sweet 16. In between his stays in Athens, he was the director of basketball operations for Sean Miller at Arizona.
A four-year guard at St. Louis, Walker piled up 350 career assists. He made the NCAA Tournament with the Billikens in 1998.
He’s now being tasked with assisting the Buckeyes back to The Dance.
Walker is Diebler’s third hire since he took over as head coach. Diebler first added former University of South Carolina Upstate and Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson to the Ohio State bench. Dickerson previously coached seven seasons at Ohio State under Thad Matta, including six as Matta’s associate head coach.
Then Diebler hired North Carolina State’s Joel Justus as his associate head coach. Justus was just part of a magical nine-game N.C. State run, first to an ACC Tournament title and then to a Final Four appearance. He recruited two of the top-three scorers from that Wolfpack team, but his recruiting success stretches back to when he was an assistant at Kentucky.
