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Brian Walsh has had a whirlwind of a last 12 months that included having a child, being part of a head coaching change and also seeing his role elevated from Team and Recruiting coordinator to an assistant coach.

Walsh came to Indiana with Archie Miller and as he enters his sixth year with the Indiana program, this upcoming season could be his most impactful despite turning a lot of heads in the industry along the way.

"There was some other opportunities that were presenting themselves to me in the college basketball world and I wanted to be transparent with Coach and let him know the developments of what was going on," Walsh said on Tuesday. "I let him know via, you know and he called shortly after and I just remember, I was holding my daughter in my arms and my wife was sitting to my right. For whatever reason, I put the phone on speaker and listened to him, and he offered me the job to bump me up.

"Like I told you guys before, it was really emotional just, you know, full circle, one year ago, the situation with the previous staff, and then having the opportunity to stay on with Coach Woodson, and it's just been unbelievable. I believe in Coach Woodson at the highest level."

When Walsh received the news of his new role in the Indiana program, many mentors came to mind. Whether it was Sean Miller, Archie Miller, Keith Dambrot Thad Matta and the rest of the coaching staff currently at Indiana, it has given Walsh a lot of experience to lean on and to be ready to take this next step in his career.

A player at Akron and Xavier during his college days, Walsh admitted he wasn't the most talented player on the floor. But it was his ability to adapt, adjust, work harder than anyone else and his attention to detail that solidified his role for any team and now staff he was on or going to be part of. That all comes from his family.

"That's going to go to my dad and my brother," Walsh said. "My dad, he was a really good basketball player at Ohio University, and my brother played basketball in college as well, but they are very blue collar. We are not the most talented guys in the world, my family is not. We are not the smartest. But we will work and we're not scared of it and we don't run from it, and we know that if you work really hard and treat people well, it's usually going to work out for you.

"That's kind of what I've experienced in my young career. I see my brother in medical sales doing the same thing doing very, very well for himself and then I watched my dad grind for 40 years in his business and do really well. So those are the two guys that I would give immediate credit to of where I got it from."

Despite this being his first full-time assistant role in college, Walsh has had a great deal of experience playing and being part of terrific coaching staffs. All of that has prepared him as he takes this next journey -- albeit a very different one than before.

"I think the main thing is just getting out of your comfort zone and just working. I learned early on in my playing career at Xavier, we come out of high school and we're the best player, and coming to a school, you think it's just going to be easy. Then you get to college and you get smacked in the mouth... And that's something that has always stuck with me," Walsh said. "Didn't really go my way at Xavier, which is fine, but it took me a valuable lesson that you can't coast, you can never get comfortable; that you always have to work and continue to get better every day, and that's no different in the workplace.

"I mean, this is a highly competitive industry with a lot of great coaches that all are wanting the same thing, and that's to win, and I really don't think there's any substitute other than just coming to work every day, being consistent and working really, really hard."

So as he begins the next step in his career, he is not only ready for more responsibility but he is hungrier than ever to be in this spot and keep building.

"I'm super passionate about this, and I love it. I've been doing it for a long time, like ever since I was a little kid. I think my first word was ball. This is what I feel like I was born to do, and I just love it. It's really not work for me," Walsh said. "To bring that enthusiasm and excitement every day to the guys, I do feel like it's good, positive energy, and again I'm just really excited.

"This is an absolute home run and Grand Slam for myself in my young career and I'm extremely grateful to Coach Woodson and the rest of the staff who believes in me and excited for the opportunity ahead."

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