Kirk Walker - Softball Coach

Photo by: Ross Turteltaub

Kirk Walker

Title:
Assistant Coach
Alma Mater:
UCLA, '88
Year at UCLA:
1st as Director of Softball Administration in 2024 (24th Overall)
Email:
kwalker@athletics.ucla.edu

Career Highlights
• 7-time NCAA Champion assistant coach (all at UCLA)
• 19 Women’s College World Series appearances (18 at UCLA, 1 at Oregon State)
• 2-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year (2005, 1999 at Oregon State)
• NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year (2019)
• 7-time NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year (6 at UCLA, 1 at Oregon State)
• 12-time Conference Regular Season Champion (11 at UCLA, 1 at Oregon State)
• Pac-12 Tournament Champion (2024)

Biography
Kirk Walker, one of the most visible and vocal advocates for diversity and inclusion in sports, transitions into a new role in his 24th year at UCLA as the Director of Softball Administration in 2025. Walker was instrumental in building the foundation for the UCLA softball dynasty, winning a total of seven NCAA Championships and making 18 Women’s College World Series appearances as an assistant coach from 1984-94 and 2013-22 and associate head coach from 2023-24.

The Bruins won NCAA titles in 1984, ‘85, ‘88, ‘89, ‘90, ‘92 and ‘19 with Walker on the coaching staff.

Walker finished his 23-year UCLA coaching career with an 828-156-1 record (.840), 11 conference regular season titles and one Pac-12 Tournament championship. Known for tossing Jolly Ranchers to home run hitters as the Bruins’ third base coach, Walker was a member of the NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year in 2019 and the NFCA West Region CSOY six times in 2014, ‘15, ‘16, ‘19, ‘21 and ‘24. Across Walker’s two stints, UCLA received 61 NFCA All-America awards, three Honda Cups, 10 Honda Sport Awards, two USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year awards, one NFCA National Player of the Year award, 14 Pac-10/12 Player of the Year awards, 127 all-conference selections (118 All-Pac-10/12) and 11 CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

Walker started his collegiate coaching career as an undergraduate assistant at UCLA in 1984 and was on staff for 11 seasons before leaving to be the head coach at Oregon State. In his first stint at UCLA, he worked closely with the Bruins' pitchers and played a large role in developing all-time greats Debbie Doom, Tracy Compton and Lisa Fernandez, among others.

Walker coached 18 seasons at Oregon State from 1995-12 and still stands as the all-time winningest coach in program history with a 594-490-3 record (.548). The Beavers experienced their greatest stretch of success with Walker at the helm, registering eight seasons of at least 40 wins and making the postseason 10 times.

Two of Oregon State’s most prolific teams in 2005 and 2006 were coached by Walker and later inducted into the Oregon State University Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2006, Walker led the Beavers to their first WCWS appearance as Oregon State posted a school-record, 28-game winning streak and reached No. 5 in the national rankings with a 43-16 mark. In 2005, he was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the second time in his career (1999) after guiding Oregon State to a 43-16 record and its first Pac-10 Championship, which was also the first regular-season Pac-10 title for any Beavers women's sports program. The most wins in a season for Oregon State came in 1999, when the Beavers had 47 victories and went to the postseason for the first time in program history. Along with his Pac-10 Coach of the Year award, Walker's staff was named the Speedline Pacific Region Co-Coaching Staff of the Year. Under Walker's tutelage, the Beavers earned 33 All-Pac-10/12 Team honors, 10 NFCA All-America awards and 26 NFCA All-Region accolades. Oregon State also received 46 All-Pac-10/12 and two NFCA All-Region Honorable Mention awards during Walker’s tenure.

Walker announced his return to Westwood on Aug. 7, 2012.

Walker has earned coaching acclaim away from the collegiate level. Most recently, Walker helped organized and coach the Finland Softball Women’s National Team in 2022, which secured its first international play win against Turkey at the WBSC European Championships. During the summer of 2017, he was an assistant coach on the USA Softball Junior Women's National Team which won gold at the WBSC Junior Women's World Championship. Walker was named one of 12 coaches to form the USA Softball Women’s National Team Coaches Pool through the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He served as an assistant for the USA Elite Team for three summers (2002-04) and also assisted the USA Red National Team during the summer of 2001.

On the professional level, Walker was the head coach for the four-time ASA Women's Major National Fast Pitch Champion California Commotion from 1996-99. He was announced as the head coach of the Commotion again in 2020 when the team re-organized as part of the National Pro Fast Pitch League.

Walker has spent the entirety of his career pushing for the advancement and support of diversity, equity and inclusion in sports. He is one of the founders of the Equality Coaching Alliance and the LGBTIQ+ Human Rights Sports Coalition and serves as a founding board member for the non-profit Sports Equality Foundation. Walker is also the coordinator of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s (NFCA) LGBTQ+ Convention Session. He was named as one of the top 100 most powerful and influential LGBTQ people in sports by Outsports in October 2024.

One of the sport’s biggest entrepreneurial minds, Walker is a co-founder and owner for college softball’s premier early-season tournament, the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Walker has organized the event for the last 20 years, bringing thousands of fans to the Palm Springs area to inspire future generations of female athletes.

Walker has fought for safety and rules clarity in a variety of roles with the NFCA, including four years as a member of the Executive Board. Walker also spent six years on the Regional Advisory Committee, three years on the NCAA Playing and Practice Rules Committee and has been a presenter at numerous NFCA conventions for the past 20 years. He co-authored the American Sport Education Program’s (ASEP) Coaching Softball Technical and Tactical Skills, which helps teach basics and intangibles in softball.

Walker also boasts a successful men’s fastpitch playing career. He was named the Most Valuable Pitcher in the summer of 2015 after winning his first national championship as a player at the North America Fastpitch Association (NAFA) Men's Masters 40-and-over National Championships in Carson City, Nev. He claimed his second national title in the summer of 2019 and was named to the All-World Team for a sixth time.

Before UCLA, Walker started his coaching career in the early 1980s as a travel ball coach for his sister, Karen Walker, who would later play for the Bruins.

Walker earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology from UCLA in 1988. The Woodland Hills, Calif. native has an adopted daughter, Ava, with his ex-partner.

Walker’s Coaching Experience
College
1984-94 – Assistant Coach, UCLA
1995-12 – Head Coach, Oregon State
2013-22 – Assistant Coach, UCLA
2023-24 – Associate Head Coach, UCLA
2025 – Director of Softball Administration, UCLA

International
2001 – Assistant Coach, USA Red National Team
2002-04 – Assistant Coach, USA Elite Team
2017 – Assistant Coach, USA Softball Junior Women’s National Team
2022 – Assistant Coach, Finland Women’s National Softball Team

Professional
1996-99 – Head Coach, California Commotion (ASA Women’s Major Fastpitch League)
2020 – Head Coach, California Commotion (National Pro Fastpitch League)