It was a good week to be a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Razorback and a University of Arkansas at Little Rock Trojan.
The Razorbacks are the only undefeated baseball team in the College World Series and advanced to the best-of-three championship that begins Monday night. This is the Hogs' second time to play for the championship and the first since 1979.
No doubt hundreds, maybe thousands, of Hog-calling fans started the drive to Omaha yesterday or today joining thousands already there.
And in Little Rock, UALR Chancellor Andrew Rogerson is getting a full understanding of what athletics can mean to a campus. OK, not just athletics but successful athletics.
Which is why Rogerson, who grew up in Scotland playing and watching rugby, was a key player in the spring in the hiring of Darrell Walker.
While college basketball is littered with stories of former NBA players who didn't make it as college coaches, Walker's story is different and impressive.
After a 10-year NBA playing career, the former Razorback basketball player coached in the NBA for more than 20 years as a head coach or top assistant, but his dream was to come home and coach UALR. He never wavered. The first time he applied he was told he needed a college degree.
Walker went back to college and finished his degree, and his Hog head coach Eddie Sutton was there as proud as any papa could be.
The next time the UALR job came open Walker was asked to apply. He did and then was told he didn't have college experience. Walker was, as anyone would be, upset. Invited and rejected at the door tends to hurt feelings.
Walker packed a bag and moved to Atlanta to be the head basketball coach at tiny Clark Atlanta University where he went 45-18, making the NCAA Division II Tournament both years.
The guy who was hired at UALR, Chris Beard, found lightning in a bottle (mostly because of sharp-shooting Josh Hagins) and led the Trojans to a 30-5 record and a first-round upset of Purdue in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. That eventually landed Beard at Texas Tech where he recently signed a $19 million, six-year contract.
The Trojans fell off the map and after last season's 7-25 record Wes Flanigan was fired. Athletic Director Chasse Conque put together a search committee and immediately the hot name was Walker, who shortly after his interview with Rogerson was named head coach.
Walker immediately gave some players the release they wanted and a couple who didn't ask, and he started recruiting. He put together a good staff including Charles Baker, who has more than 15 years of Division I coaching on his resume.
Last week, a visitor dropped by to watch one of their short practices and three players immediately jumped out. None played for the Trojans last year, although one was on the team but sat out the season.
Walker had 10 players working out last week and said with a shrug, "You can only play five at a time."
On Thursday, Rogerson and his wife Janessa hosted a reception for Darrell and Lisa Walker, who will have been married 31 years in August. It looks like she could still win a 400-meter race like she was doing when they met, and Walker looks like he could still drown you in defense.
More than 200 showed up for the reception on the UALR campus, and while there was excitement and much talk about Razorback baseball, there was unabashed enthusiasm about Walker and Trojans basketball.
Interest in Trojans basketball is always more intense when the team is winning, and no one knows that better than Walker.
Sports on 06/24/2018