Bio

James Walker began as a head coach at the University of Findlay in January of 2018. In his first season with the team, Walker led the Oilers to an 11-4-2 record, which was a six-win improvement from the year before.

Walker comes to the University of Findlay after a brief hiatus from college coaching. He has spent the previous eight years before his appointment as the Executive Director of Coaching at Pacesetter Soccer Club in Toledo, Ohio.

Prior to his time at Pacesetter, from 2007-2009, Walker was the associate head coach for the men's program at Penn State University. While coaching the Nittany Lions, Walker coached the NCAA Division I Lowes Senior Class Award Student of the Year as well ten all-Big Ten performers and four first team all-region selections.

Before his arrival in State College, PA, Walker was the head women's coach at NCAA Division I Duquesne University where he inherited a team that, in 2002, had finished with a 5-13-1 record and a 1-9-1 record in A10 play. Walker turned the program around and in the 2005 season amassed a record of 10-6-1 and advanced his team its first ever A10 Championship game.

Walker, a Tiffin University graduate, has also seen success at the Division II level and is familiar with the area. His first head coaching job was at Tiffin where he served as head women's coach from 1997 to 2002. While at Tiffin, Walker led the Dragons to four American Mideast Conference Championship crowns and to an 84-33-4 overall record. The Dragons went 45-2-1 in the conference over his tenure. Tiffin was nationally ranked from 1998 to 2002 under his guidance and advanced to the Regional Final Four each of his six seasons. Walker also led his team to the 2000 and 2002 NAIA National Tournament quarterfinals. During his tenure at Tiffin Walker was awarded Conference Coach of the year on three separate occasions, was a three time Ohio College Soccer Association Coach of the Year and was twice voted Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year.

A native of Birmingham, England, Walker earned a bachelor's degree in business from Tiffin in 1997 and completed his MBA in 2000. He competed as a forward for the Dragons from 1992 to 1995 and twice earned NSCAA All-America honors (1994, 1995). Walker helped Tiffin capture the 1992 and 1995 AMC titles.

After graduation, Walker played professionally for the Kalamazoo Kingdom of the USISL from 1996 to 1997 and was a member of the Cleveland Caps in 1998. He was also the assistant men's soccer coach at Tiffin for two seasons and took over the women's helm in 1997.

Walker resides in Bowling Green, Ohio, with his wife Kerri and two daughters Emma and Anna.