University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Director of Operations
- Email:
- cswalker@umass.edu
- Phone:
- 545-2726
A dynamic young coach, Candice Walker enters her sixth season with the UMass women’s basketball program in 2020-21. Walker was announced as an assistant coach for Tory Verdi’s staff in May 2016 after spending the 2015-16 campaign as the program’s director of operations.
In March 2019, Walker was honored by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association as a recipient of the prestigious Thirty Under 30 Award. The Thirty Under 30 program recognizes 30 up-and-coming coaches age 30 and under at all levels of women's basketball.
Helping oversee the Minutewomen offense, Walker has contributed to a theme of rapid upward trajectory for UMass. It was a record campaign for the Maroon and White in 2019-20, a year to be remembered for a slew of team and individual performances. The squad tied a program record with 20 wins, set a new top mark with an 11-game winning streak and finished tied for fourth place in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the highest under the league’s current alignment. Massachusetts hosted, and won, an A-10 Tournament game at the Mullins Center for the first time since 1998, en route to the league Quarterfinals.
The prior year, UMass won more games (16) than any other season since 2006-07 and reached the Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals for the first time since 2005. That continued a positive trend from the previous two years, which included improvements in 17 team statistical categories in 2017-18 over the previous campaign.
Walker has also spent considerable time on the recruiting trail over the past five seasons, helping assemble multiple nationally-renowned recruiting classes that outsiders have labeled among the best in program history. She added recruiting coordinator to her responsibilities in Summer 2019.
In her previous role as the director of operations, Walker was charged with all facets of program organization including daily operations, travel, practice preparation and film analysis.
Before her time with UMass, Walker spent the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons as an assistant coach at Wilmington University (Del.). She also coached with Point Guard College after graduating from Loyola University (Md.) in 2013.
While at Loyola, Walker earned a bachelor's degree in 2011 before she attended graduate school while competing in 117 games for the program, the sixth-most by any student-athlete in Loyola women's basketball history. She led all Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rookies in points and assists as a freshman during the 2007-08 campaign en route to MAAC All-Rookie Team honors; however, injuries derailed her 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. She was granted a medical hardship waiver to return for a sixth season and closed out her career while working towards a Master of Arts degree in 2012-13.
