RIC’s Walsh A Finalist For D3 Coach of the Year
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
He’s coming off of another Little East championship and another NCAA Tournament appearance. He was named a finalist for the 2013 Glenn Robinson Coach of the Year award given to the top coach in division three. He’s Rhode Island College men’s basketball coach Bob Walsh.
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe the job that Walsh has done since taking over the Anchormen’s men’s basketball program 8 years ago. He has led the team to the NCAA division three men’s basketball tournament for 7 consecutive years, one of only 4 programs in the country to have accomplished such a feat.
This season, Walsh led his team to a 26-4 overall record including a 13-1 mark in league play. The Anchormen won Little East regular season and conference tournament titles.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhy has Rhode Island College basketball been so successful on Walsh’s watch? “I think it’s two things,” Walsh said. “First, it’s been about recruiting the right talent into the program. And then it’s about getting them to buy into the right culture which I think we’ve established in our program.”
What is it about the culture of RIC hoops that has allowed it to sustain success? “I tell people all the time to come see us practice if they want to know why we are successful,” he said. “I tell my players all the time that I would put our practices up against any team at any level in the country. Our kids practice hard. The effort they put in is extraordinary. And it’s all about buying into our culture of hard work and a team-first mentality.”
It has been written here before that Bob Walsh deserves a shot as a division 1 head coach and this writer believes that more so today than ever before.
And it’s not as if other division one programs haven’t taken notice. Over the past few years, Walsh has been a candidate for head coaching jobs at Iona, Marist, Manhattan, Canisius, Colgate, Brown, Dartmouth, FDU and St. Francis – New York.
Unfortunately for Walsh, he has yet to land one of those coveted D-1 jobs. But you have to believe that his time will come.
Maybe the disappointing part for coaches like Walsh is the fact that many more high-major division one assistant coaches seem to be landing D-1 head coaching jobs as opposed to successful D-3 coaches like himself. Does that mean that Walsh would consider going back to division one to be an assistant coach?
“I would never take a job as a means to get another job,” he said. “Like I did when I accepted the job here, I took it because it was a good job. If I were to take a D-1 assistant’s position, it would have to be for someone that I know and respect.”
In the meantime, Walsh continues to run one of the most successful programs in division three at Rhode Island College. And his Anchormen should be very good again next season.
“We’ve been good since I got here and I wouldn’t expect anything different next season,” he said. “Our goal every year is to win the Little East and make it to the NCAA Tournament. We’ll have to replace an All-American (Tahrike Carter) for the first time. But we’ve got some very good returning players and I like our recruits as well.”
Walsh, like just about every other men’s college basketball coach, will be in Atlanta this weekend for the Final Four. On April 5th, he will find out if he has won the Glenn Robinson Award.
Whether or not he does win it, no one can deny the fact that he is one of the best coaches in the game. And you would think that it’s only a matter of time before a division one school takes that leap of faith to make him their new men’s basketball coach.
