Thanks to great sources who had HoopDirt.com out in front of this one last week (DIII DIRT)…
Shenandoah University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Doug Zipp announced Wednesday that Adam Walsh has been hired as the Hornets new head men’s basketball coach.
Walsh, a Winchester native and a James Wood High School graduate, comes to SU after serving as the head men’s basketball coach at Centenary College of Louisiana since 2010.
Walsh led the Gents to the 2015 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season title, the program’s first since joining Division III, was named as the 2014 SCAC Coach of the Year and won 84 Division III games in his seven seasons as the head coach.
As an assistant coach, he was part of staffs that saw the head coach earn league coach of the year honors in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
His assistant coaching stops included stints at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Barton College, Odessa College and Paris Junior College.
A 2000 graduate of High Point University, Walsh got his college coaching start as a graduate manager at Campbell University.
“After a very competitive national search we are excited to have Adam Walsh join Shenandoah’s athletic department as the next head men’s basketball coach,” Zipp said.
“Adam demonstrated enthusiasm and a clear understanding of the Division III student-athlete experience and a strong will to win. We are very impressed with his experiences as a head coach at Centenary and are confident this has prepared him very well to support our student-athletes both on and off the court and to meet the challenges of establishing a competitively successful men’s basketball program within the highly competitive Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
“His vision of our basketball program and of the young men he will mentor and coach resonated very well across campus and he best fits what we wanted to find in a Division III head coach.”
Walsh takes over a program that won nine games this past season and a program-record five ODAC contests. He will welcome back up to 15 returnees off of the 9-17 squad.
“My wife Nicole and I are so grateful for the faith and trust being placed in me by Dr. Fitzsimmons and Doug Zipp to take the men’s basketball program to new heights,” Walsh said. “As a part of Shenandoah’s ’21 sports, 1 team’ philosophy, I want to make sure that Hornets’ Basketball is also Winchester/Frederick County’s team. I want our program to be connected to the campus and the community in new ways and I hope to positively impact the youth of Winchester and Frederick County.
“I fondly remember being a part of standing room only crowds in Shingleton Gymnasium watching the teams of the mid-1990s. I am excited for the opportunity in front of us in a basketball-rich area as well as the ODAC, which is recognized as one of the best Division III conferences in the nation. I believe the community and the alums are hungry for a winner and I look forward to engaging all of them.”
Walsh was hired from a pool of more than 250 candidates. The search committee, which included students, faculty and staff members across campus as well as coaches and administration, conducted interviews throughout April before welcoming six candidates to campus in the last two weeks of the month.
“I want to thank the search committee, as well as the other campus and community leaders that met with our candidates,” Zipp said. “We all worked tirelessly to identify the best person to serve as our next head men’s basketball coach and we sincerely appreciate all of their efforts.”
Walsh officially begins his duties June 1.
http://www.suhornets.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20170509fayxxo
