Evansville hiring Walter McCarty as men’s basketball coach

Walter McCarty, University of Evansville, Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers

Walter McCarty, currently assistant coach for the Boston Celtics, is returning to Indiana, his home state, to become the head coach of the University of Evansville men’s basketball team.

Evansville reached agreement with McCarty Thursday afternoon, the school announced. An introductory press conference set for Friday at 5:30 pm CT inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

McCarty is a graduate of Evansville Harrison High School. He went on to play at the University of Kentucky from 1993-96 and then was drafted 19th overall in 1996 by the New York Knicks. His NBA playing career would last for 10 years, with stints for four different teams – the longest of which was in Boston fro 1997-2005.

Once he stepped away from the NBA, the 44-year-old went to work for one of his longtime coaches, Rick Pitino, whose career overlapped McCarty’s at Kentucky and Boston. He spent three years as an assistant at Louisville, then spent one year (2010-11) with the Pacers under Jim O’Brien, who he also played for in Boston.

That Pacers staff included Dan Burke, Jay DeFruscio, Vitaly Potapenko … and Frank Vogel, who was promoted to head coach the following season.

Two years later, when Brad Stevens took over in Boston, he brought McCarty back to Boston to serve as an assistant on his staff. He’s responsible for coaching the bigs.

For McCarty, it’s a chance to return home and help build up the Evansville program. This past season, the Purple Aces went 17-15 and 7-11 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Back in 2016, they went 25-9 under Marty Simmons. He was relieed up his coaching duties on March 14.

Fun fact: McCarty enjoys making music and most recently released an album in 2012 when he was out of coaching.

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