Shock Hire Cedric Walker as Head Coach
October 31, 2021 - Indoor Football League (IFL)
Spokane Shock News Release
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON - After a 6-7 season, the Spokane Shock have made a coaching change. Today the Spokane Shock announce the hiring of 2-time Arena Bowl Champion, Cedric Walker. Cedric comes to Spokane with a championship mentality at the highest level of indoor football as both a player and coach. Walker has two Arena Bowl Champioship rings. One with the Arizona Rattlers and one with the San Jose Saber Cats.
Walker played for a succession of AFL teams over his ten-season career; these included the Orlando Predators, Arizona Rattlers, Indiana Firebirds, Chicago Rush, Austin Wranglers, and Las Vegas Gladiators. At the end of his AFL Career, Walker had amassed some 522 solo tackles (614 total); this was (at the time) the league's seventh-highest total.
Walker took up a career in coaching following his retirement as a player. He began as a defensive coordinator for the Bakersfield Blitz and the Green Bay Blizzard. In Bakersfield the Blitz allowed the second-fewest points of any AF2 team that season and his defensive line lead the league in sacks. Walker has also been a head coach of the AF2's Everett Hawks and the Tri- Cities Fever.
In the Arena Football League Walker has been the defensive coordinator for several teams starting with the Milwaukee Iron. The Iron allowed 903 points in Walker's first year (the eleventh-highest mark in the 14-team league); despite this, the team's defense finished second in sacks (25.5) and fourth in interceptions. In 2011, Walker's second year as defensive coordinator, the team's defense made major strides; notably, it allowed the fewest yards (266.8 per game) and fourth-fewest points (872) of any AFL defense that season.
After a two year stint in Milwaukee Walker was hired to be the defensive coordinator of AFL power house San Jose Saber Cats prior to the AFL's 2012 season. In San Jose, Walker inherited a defense that had allowed 1080 points the season before; this was the third-worst total in the 18-team league. Under Walker's guidance, the Saber Cats' defense became the league's most dominant. In 2012, the Saber Cats allowed 1027 points (a 53-point improvement over 2011). The defense was aided, in part, by the additions of Joe Sykes and Jason Stewart to the defensive line. Sykes recorded 16.0 sacks in 2012 (a record that stood until 2015, when Sykes himself broke it with 18.5); for this, he was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year.
In 2013, Walker's second year, the Saber Cats allowed only 877 points (a staggering 150-point improvement over 2012). In two years, Walker had turned the AFL's third-worst unit (by points allowed) into its second best. The unit was led by the return of defensive back Clevan Thomas, who had been elected to the AFL's Hall of Fame one year prior. Thomas led the league with fifteen interceptions (six of which were returned for touchdowns); he joined Sykes as the Saber Cats' second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year.
In 2014, the Saber Cats' defense established itself as the league's best. The team allowed only 723 points all season (a 154-point improvement over 2013) while holding eleven of its eighteen opponents to fewer than 40 points. This was the league's lowest total by 55 points. For the third consecutive year, a Saber Cats defender won the league's Defensive Player of the Year Award; this year's recipient was Jason Stewart, who led the Cats' vaunted defensive line with 12.5 sacks.
In Walker's fourth year, the Saber Cats' defense performed historically well. Despite injuries to the team's secondary (particularly the losses of Virgil Gray and Eric Crocker to injury), the Saber Cats allowed a staggeringly-low 662 points (a 61-point improvement over 2014's league-best figure). This was the league's best total by 161 points. All told, the 2015 Saber Cats allowed only 36.8 points per game; this represented the league's lowest per-game total in well over twenty years. At the end of the season, the Saber Cats defeated the Jacksonville Sharks in ArenaBowl XXVIII; this gave Walker his second AFL Championship (and first as a defensive coordinator).
On March 27, 2018, it was announced that Walker would be the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Brigade. Under Walker, in 2019 the Brigade boasted the #1 defense in the league while leading the league in sacks and a number of other statistical categories. That year the Brigade became the 2nd stingiest defense in arena football history!
Indoor Football League Stories from October 31, 2021
- Shock Hire Cedric Walker as Head Coach - Spokane Shock
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