The University of New Orleans announced today the hiring
of Tom Walter, head coach at George Washington University,
as head baseball coach. The hiring is pending upon
approval by the Louisiana State Board of Supervisors.
Walter becomes the fifth coach
to lead the Privateer baseball program. The school has
competed in the sport for 35 seasons, compiling a .586
winning percentage over that time including two College
World Series appearances (one in Division I in 1984).
Walter replaces Randy Bush who resigned June 10 after five
seasons.
“When I began the search for a
new coach, I looked for three primary qualities," said
Miller in making the announcement. "I wanted a coach who
has experienced success, I wanted a coach with head
coaching experience, and I wanted a coach who knows the
value of academics as part of our commitment to our
student-athletes.
"Tom Walter has those
qualities in abundance."
Walter comes to UNO after
spending the last eight seasons as the head baseball coach
at the Washington, D.C., school where he compiled a
275-184 mark including a trip to the 2002 NCAA Tournament.
The winningest baseball coach
in GW history, Walter averaged 39 wins a season over the
last five years and collected 30-or-more victories six
times including two of those seasons with 40-plus wins for
the Colonials.
One of his players from this
past season, Anthony Raglani, was a fifth-round selection
in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by
the Los Angeles Dodgers bringing the total to 17 players
that have played professionally after their GW careers
under Walter. In 2002, six Colonials were taken in the
draft which marked the most players taken from the school
in a particular year.
During the team's NCAA run in
2002, GW captured the Atlantic 10 Tournament crown by
defeating conference rival Richmond for the title as that
team set several school records including its 42 victories
that season.
In his second season, Walter
was named the 1998 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year by
leading the Colonials to a then school-record 33 victories
en route to winning the league's West Division title and
notching the fifth-best turnaround in NCAA Division I from
the previous season.
During his GW tenure, Walter
had a total of 18 first-team all-league selections
including five from this spring. He also coached one
Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year and three A-10 Rookies of
the Year during his time leading the Colonials.
From 1992-1994, Walter served
as the assistant coach for GW. Working primarily with the
Colonials' hitting and base-running techniques, Walter
helped guide GW's 1992 squad to the conference
championship and a trip to the NCAA Midwest Regional that
year.
A 1991 graduate of Georgetown
University, Walter started behind the plate or in the
outfield in each of his four seasons with the Hoyas. He
was the team captain in 1990 and 1991 and was named to the
1991 Big East Conference All-Academic Team. After earning
his bachelor's degree in finance from Georgetown, Walter
went to GW, where he earned a master's degree in business
while serving as an assistant to former Colonial coach Jay
Murphy.
The Johnstown, PA, native has
also served as a head coach of the New Market (Va.) Rebels
during the summer of 1994, where he led the team to the
Shenandoah Valley League title. Following his stint there,
Walter took a position with the New York Yankees' Class A
affiliate in Greensboro, NC, in November of 1994.
Walter returned to GW in the
fall of 1997 charged with the task of resurrecting GW's
once prestigious program.
Walter, 35, and his wife,
Kirsten, have two children ? Chase (4) and Kasey (2).
