Melanie Walls Joins Bama Women's Basketball Staff
4/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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TUSCALOOSA – New University of Alabama women’s basketball coach Stephany Smith announced the addition of Melanie Walls to her Crimson Tide coaching staff on Thursday.
Walls follows Smith from Middle Tennessee State University to the Capstone after spending the last five seasons as an assistant coach with the Lady Raiders. In addition to her on-court coaching responsibilities, Walls will serve as one of the Tide’s recruiting coordinator and will also be the staff’s liaison with the athletic department’s academic staff.
“Melanie has been like my right arm over the past five years,” said Smith. “We have worked side-by-side on a vision of getting an opportunity like the one here at Alabama. I could not have imagined coming here without her. She has been a big part of the success I’ve had and will be a big part of the successes to come. I consider her an extension of me.”
A native of Eatonton, Ga., Walls joined Smith’s MTSU staff for the 2000-01 season and helped guide the Lady Raiders to a 99-55 mark during her five-year stint including three postseason appearances (2 NCAA/ 1 WNIT). She served as the recruiting coordinator the past three seasons and attracted some of the program’s top ranked recruiting classes to Murfreesboro, Tenn., in each of those years.
A four-year record setting letterwinner at Georgia College & State University, in Milledgeville, Ga., Walls graduated from GC&SU with a bachelor’s degree in 1996. She earned her master’s degree from GC&SU in 1998 while serving as a graduate assistant with her alma mater. She began her coaching career with one season at Binghamton (N.Y.) University (1998-99) followed by a year at Indiana (1999-2000) before heading to MTSU.
“I cannot be more excited about being at a tradition-rich place like Alabama and continuing my coaching relationship with Stephany,” said Walls. “I’ve spent the last five years working with her and I know that she is going to be successful. As a young coach, I can’t imagine working for anyone else who can prepare me to one day run my own program. She has proven herself a winner and I want to take every opportunity I can to learn from a person like her. When she asked me to come to Alabama, I jumped at the chance.”
Walls is married to Marcus Walls, a former MTSU football coach, and the couple have one child, daughter Brookelyn Laurel, who was born on June, 4, 2004.
With the addition of Walls, Smith still has several spots on her staff left to fill including a pair of assistant coaches slots and a director of basketball operations position.
