May 28, 2009

Pocatello, ID --- Idaho State University's new assistant basketball coach might be to ISU fans, but he certainly isn't new to head coach Joe O'Brien. ISU's fourth-year head coach named Tim Walsh, most recently at Green Bay but a former member of O'Brien's national title winning staff at Southeastern Iowa, to replace Steve Swanson, who announced in April that he was leaving to pursue a doctorate at Temple.

Also, O'Brien announced that due to department budget restructuring, ISU's third assistant position, previously a full-time position, has been switched to a graduate assistantship. Mike Brown, who has held that third assistant position for the past two years, already has his post graduate degree, and has announced that he will not return in the fall as well.

Walsh is very familiar to O'Brien, who served as O'Brien's assistant coach for six seasons, helping Southeastern Iowa Community College to three national titles. After O'Brien left Southeastern, Walsh took over and served as the head coach from 2004-07.

"Tim and I worked together for five very successful seasons. He knows me, how I want to do things, and how we want play," said O'Brien. "With this year's team I want stability in every area, and Tim will bring that, and he will be familiar with almost everything we do from day one. He brings a wealth of coaching experience to our basketball program."

Last year, Walsh got an up close and personal look at the Bengals when ISU traveled to Wisconsin to play Green Bay in December, as Walsh spent last year there as an assistant. Green Bay defeated Idaho State last year 68-53 and finished 22-11, advancing to the College Basketball Invitational, one of the new postseason tournaments. That followed a year at Eastern Arizona Community College, where he started the year as an assistant and was promoted to interim head coach in January, leading the Gila Monsters to a 15-4 record over the final two months of the season, finishing fifth at the NJCAA Tournament. Walsh was named District I Coach of the Year. Overall in his two head coaching stops, he owns a record of 67-45, having coached 36 future Division I players, nine NJCAA All-Americans, four NJCAA Academic All-Americans, and three NJCAA Players of the Year.

Walsh has 17 years of college coaching on his resume, including his first collegiate stop, at Quincy University from 1994-98, helping them to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. Walsh has also coaching in the high school ranks as a head coach at Quincy Senior High School and Payson Seymour High School.

Originally from Beloit, Wisconsin, Walsh earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in physical education from Western Illinois University. He played one year at UW-Eau Claire before suffering a career-ending knee injury.

"Mike is one of the 70 some-odd people on campus that had their positions eliminated due to the downsizing," said O'Brien. "It was not a basketball decision, and we are sad to see him go."

NOTE: Senior-to-be guard Austin Kilpatrick had an MRI on his shoulder, and it was discovered that he played part of the season with a torn labrum. He is scheduled to undergo surgery tomorrow and is expected to miss between four to six months.