From the NBA to Evansville

Part One – Walter McCarty

(St. Louis, MO) – What makes a man leave Boston and the bright lights of the National Basketball Association? For Walter McCarty it was the allure of returning home and helping create something special at an historic university in his old stomping grounds.

After a ten year playing career in the NBA and some stints as an assistant coach in the college ranks, McCarty found himself coaching for the legendary Boston Celtics. He has been working with the greatest basketball talent on the planet, but when University of Evansville Director of Athletics Mark Spencer called about the Purple Aces’ head coaching opening, there was a connection, an interest and ultimately a decision to come home.

For McCarty, who won a national championship as a player at Kentucky and coached under Rick Pitino at Louisville, the draw to the college game was strong. He remembered the excitement surrounding the Aces’ program when he was a child growing up in the Indiana town. Suddenly, traveling to Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago and Denver on a nightly basis didn’t sound so exciting.

Recently the 6’10 McCarty and I discussed his return to college game and to his home town. You can hear it in his voice. He’s excited about coming home!

 

 

When contacted by Spencer, McCarty says there was a unique connection between the two. Their similar passions and vision for UE basketball drew them together and to dreaming about what could take place at the Ford Center and for the purple and orange.

 

 

While the Harrison High School product has never been a college head coach, he did coach the Celtics’ summer league team last year. McCarty says often players with long NBA careers are overlooked as coaches because they don’t have a long resume of coaching experience. He has worked with some big name coaches and feels prepared for the Evansville job.

 

 

McCarty played for Rick Pitino during that 1996 NCAA championship season and coached under the Hall of Famer at Louisville. Recently he has been coaching under former Butler coach Brad Stevens. While Pitino has been under fire in recent months, the former Kentucky Wildcat says he has learned a great deal from his mentor.

 

 

Having played ten years in the NBA, McCarty had numerous experiences with some of the greatest names in basketball history. His list of combatants is long and his memory of those great players is truly engaging. Standing just shy of seven feet tall, I knew his toughest opponents had to be the great post players of his era. However, he says the toughest to guard was the shortest rival on his list.

 

 

Since he was coaching in Boston, I had to ask the Purple Aces’ new head coach about his perspective on St. Louis’ own, and Celtic rookie Jayson Tatum. I’ve watched the Tatum play since he was a freshman in high school.

McCarty likens the likely NBA Rookie of the Year to another Celtic legend, Paul Pierce.

 

 

In Part Two we discuss his current roster, incoming recruits, what he was looking for in a staff and how his playing and coaching experience can take the Evansville program higher in the Missouri Valley’s standings.

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