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On Monday, it was announced that Kirk Walker–the highly successful college coach, event producer (Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic) and men’s standout softball player—would be the head coach and assistant general manager of the new NPF team, the California Commotion.
Kirk certainly has a lot on his plate and a lot of planning in motion with his Commotion GM, friend and Mary Nutter partner Deb Hartig as well as team owner Damon Zumwalt.
Today, however, Walker is not in Los Angeles, where the new pro team will be headquartered, but rather is in Washington D.C. with the UCLA Bruins softball team which is one of 16 NCAA champions being honored in the National’s Capital—by Congress yesterday and today at the White House (as if there’s not enough going on in Washington this week!).
The #NattyChamps take D.C.!
Excited to meet with some of our local and state representatives and see some pretty cool monuments in our nation’s capital!#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/nkuDMj0Fyn
— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) November 21, 2019
I caught up with Coach Walker Wednesday morning before he left for the team’s flight across the country to ask him about his new roles with the Commotion, how he’ll balance those roles with UCLA responsibilities and much more. One thing they won’t have to worry about right home is finding a place to play in So Cal: the new NPF multi-team format for 2020 will see the teams travel to one location to place; the Commotion will likely host one of these events down the road.
Here’s what the coach, considered by many (myself included) as one of the nicest people in all of softball, had to say about his new roles as well as the old ones…
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
*****
First of all, congratulations on the new gig! Regarding the coach and assistant GM positions, what’s going through your head right now in what you have to do?
We’re focused, obviously, on aligning the schedule and what will happen for the next nine months heading into the summer—that’s a lot of what we’re trying to nail down—but our No. 1 priority is to start looking at the acquisition of players and putting a roster together. Those are the two most pressing things we have to get nailed down.
How did you first hear about the head coaching job and also the team coming to California?
There’s been ongoing dialog as Damon, the team owner, had expressed interest for a while. There were questions like, “Why isn’t there a West Coach pro team?” and “Wouldn’t it be great if there was?” Deb and I had a conversation a few months ago, we kind of knew there was some movement happening but, as you know, there’s always that type of discussion going on (about pro softball in the West).
The talk was along the lines of if it would happen, what would be my involvement because I absolutely wanted to facilitate growing softball in whatever I could. It quickly turned into what would be my specific role with the organization and then the priorities became selecting a team name and getting the team launched.
For me, I had to make sure the details were ironed out with the NCAA, UCLA, the school’s athletic director (Dan Guerrero) and (UCLA Head Coach) Kelly (Inouye-Perez) before everything else could fall into place. It’s been all within the last two months.
Where are you in hiring assistants?
It’s ongoing. Debra and I are working on that and having daily discussions regarding certain people. I’ve talked to several people about the assistant role and we’ll see where it lands, but we haven’t made any decisions yet. We’ll most likely have two coaches at each event although it might not be the same two coaches based on schedules. For example, there’s an event in March where I won’t be able to attend because of my UCLA responsibilities.
What about getting players locked in for the team?
We think we’ll have an assistant coach and some players finalized in the next three weeks. Our goal is to get the core of the team together and have that be solidified very soon. Our goal is to put together the most competitive team with the players that are available. There’s an NFP Draft and we can also go after players not currently in the league. Ideally, our roster will have 10-to-12 players in the core group and an additional 6-to-7 athletes later in the year. We have several different options available and will look to see what makes sense including marketing and geography.
Are you focusing on Southern California to get players?? It would make sense as there are so many great ones locally…
Overall, the key will be our ability to create an interest in the team and that will be helped by getting highly-visible players and those already in the spotlight. We, for example, could look at getting players from So Cal originally who may not live here now. In my mind, the most important thing is to bring together the most competitive team of players we can. We have great options in getting talent because we’re on the West Coast, but it’s not our only consideration.
Are you looking at style of play in the athletes you’re considering?
Today, many of the players in softball fall into all categories and have all the athleticism and tools to do many things well. There won’t be a limitation on one versus the other, like “small ball” versus “power ball.” As the saying goes, “Defense and pitching win championships, but offense puts butts in the seats.” Our goal is to be a contender in any competition we’re in while, at the same time, being entertaining for the fans.
How will scheduling and travel work for you and the Commotion team being that all the other NPF teams are back East?
There’s going to be 6-to-7 multi-team events, like a tournament, and there could be even more so it’s not like we’ll be flying to one place to play a few games and then fly back. We’re planning on hosting at least one event here in L.A. and it looks like the Chicago Bandits will host an event and possibly there will be events in the South and Midwest. Those will be travel weekends.
I would also love to see several other West Coast events as there’s so much interest in the athletes. It would be tremendous to see events in San Diego, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Phoenix and possibly even Mexico.
How will these new roles work merge with your coaching responsibilities for UCLA as well as your playing men’s softball, where you’ve had such great success?
It’s a little bit unknown at this point. I have a great passion for softball, but this will definitely affect my ability to play men’s softball although I won’t be retiring from it.
Recruiting for UCLA I’ll do during the week and weekends when not tied into NPF. Fortunately, the new scheduling format doesn’t require as much time for travel—as I mentioned, it’s more like a tournament format—which will allow us to be more efficient with our time and not have as many days working, playing or traveling.
February through the Women’s College World Series, my priority is with UCLA and I’ll work as time allows with Commotion, doing training and whatever needs to be done. Later in the summer, that should flip and I will able to work more with the Commotion.
Speaking of UCLA, what a magical year 2019 was for the program in winning the Women’s College World Series! What will be your main memory of that team and the championship season?
The interesting thing about 2019 was it was a great year and we were able to storm through the little adversity we had during the early part of the season. Fortunately, we really didn’t have a lot of trials like injuries or setbacks, it was pretty uneventful in terms of major moments. I clearly remember thinking that, going into the conference play, there was something different about this team. I think it was the seniors and upperclassmen were playing with savvy, for lack of a better term. This team was comfortable competing where they were up or down in a game and they didn’t get fazed… that became our story.
When we got to the end of the World Series, it really felt like the late 80’s and early 90’s championship teams where the players weren’t overconfident, but instead were comfortable being in that pressure cooker or arena in every game no matter how big or intense the moment was. We felt like we were comfortable and where we were supposed to be.
However, we knew after the big win in Game 1 (over Oklahoma) that going into Game 2 it wasn’t going to be a cake walk, we knew that game was going to test us because (Sooner Head Coach) Patty (Gasso) and her team are talented and know how to battle. Still, we knew that even though the game was going to be tough, we were good and didn’t go in being overconfident. We led off with back-to-back home runs and even with that I was thinking, “Oh my gosh it’s going to get really hard!”
Our team knew it wouldn’t be easy because the Oklahoma team had talented players who had been there in big moments and were going to battle and they did. It was a battle back-and-forth and there were incredible iconic moments on both sides—certainly the final play (where UCLA scored the winning run on a play at the plate)—but also the big home runs that impacted the game throughout. My favorite part of it all was that our team was so about celebrating in the moment without being cocky. I was more about enjoying every moment and loving the ride.
#WCWSwednesday: 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣9️⃣
After Oklahoma tied the game in the top of the inning, Kinsley Washington dropped a blooper into left field to drive in Jacqui Prober from second base to secure the national championship for @UCLASoftball in walk off fashion. pic.twitter.com/QrUjCpTXdc
— NCAA Softball (@NCAAsoftball) October 30, 2019