McGuyre Completes Volleyball Staff with Joshua Walker
WACO, Texas – Baylor volleyball head coach Ryan McGuyre has completed his coaching staff with the addition of Joshua Walker as assistant coach, announced Thursday.
“We are thrilled to add Joshua Walker to our staff,” said McGuyre. “He is an elite-level coach and already a proven national champion. He has competed at the highest level and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our staff. He is very sharp tactically and will provide both offensive and defensive instruction. He has a passionate love for the Lord and understands servant leadership. His transition from the men’s game will sync well with what we are already doing as well as providing fresh perspectives and innovation to help us continue to improve. He has a beautiful family and we are excited about all of them joining the Baylor family.”
Walker, a native of Virginia Beach, Va., comes to Waco after spending seven seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Hawaii-Manoa with the men’s volleyball team, his alma mater.
The Warriors are currently in the middle of their season, now 14-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big West Conference. Walker will join Baylor after the conclusion of Hawaii’s season and the birth of his fourth child in early May.
"Josh Walker has been an integral part of UH men’s volleyball as a player and as a coach for a long time,” said Hawaii men’s head coach Charlie Wade. “He was a role model representative as a student-athlete on and off the court and has continued his contributions as a coach. He has developed a wide skill set as a coach which will ensure his continued success as an assistant and when he becomes a head coach. He has worked extremely hard to prepare himself for future challenges and we wish him and his ‘ohana only the best as they embark on new challenges. I am very grateful for all he has done for Hawai‘i men's volleyball."
During his tenure with the Rainbow Wahine, Walker has accumulated a 142-31 record as of the end of February 2022. He has coached 12 All-Americans as well as helped coach his team to finish top-five in the nation in the past five seasons, including three Final Four appearances and two National Championship appearances. UH was the 2021 NCAA Men’s Volleyball National Champion after going 17-1 on the season and 10-0 in conference play.
He became the first UH assistant coach to be named AVCA Assistant Coach of the Year since the award’s inception in 2010, earning the award in 2019.
Walker was tasked with overseeing the academic progress of his student-athletes, which have received national recognition with a team cumulative GPA of 3.3 or above for three out of the last five years.
In addition to his coaching duties at UH, he spent two summers (2017, 2019) as a Southern California Volleyball Association High-Performance Coach. Starting in 2021, he has served as a USA Volleyball National Team Development Program Assistant Coach for summer and winter.
Walker returned to his alma mater to start coaching with the men’s squad under the direction of Charlie Wade in 2016 after his professional playing career.
For 2011-12, he played for Al Baniyas Sports Club in Abu Dhabi, then with the Panathinaikos Athletic Club in Athens, Greece, in 2012-13. Walker then played with Boldklubben Marienlyst in Odense, Denmark, from 2013-14. While in Denmark, he also earned MVP honors. In the summer of 2014 and ’15 he played in the Premier Volleyball League with Team USA. For the 2014-15 season, he was in Oulu, Finland, with the Lentopalloseura Etta, where he was an All-Star in the Finland Volleyball League.
Walker was a varsity athlete at Hawaii from 2006-2011 where he was an AVCA All-American and two-time All-Conference player in the MPSF. He finished his four-year career with 1,428 kills (3.91 k/s) which ranked fifth in program history at the time. He graduated in 2011 with his bachelor’s in English from UH.
Walker becomes the fifth member of the volleyball coaching staff and will look to help the Bears make it back to the Final Four of the NCAA volleyball tournament.
Last year the Bears finished 22-6 overall and 14-2 in the Big 12. Baylor lost to Minnesota 3-2 in the third round of the tournament at the Madison, Wi. regional.