Bio

New Ferris State University women's basketball head coach Kurt Westendorp has announced the appointment of former West Michigan and collegiate standout Jasmyn Walker as the program's full-time assistant coach.

Walker, who served most recently during the 2019-20 campaign as an assistant coach at fellow Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) member Davenport University, played prep basketball at Muskegon Mona Shores before going on to play collegiately at a pair of NCAA Division I schools in Valparaiso and Western Michigan.

The Muskegon native has ties to the Bulldog program as both her father, Jarvis, and mother, Danielle (Smith) Walker were standout collegiate basketball athletes at Ferris State and are members of the school's Bulldog Athletics Hall of Fame. Along with her parents, her family's involvement in the game runs deep as her sister, Jordan, will be a graduate transfer player for the University of Tennessee this coming year and her brother, Jarvis, currently plays on the D1 level at Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW).

“I’m thrilled to welcome Jasmyn Walker to our coaching staff," Westendorp said. "I had the privilege of coaching Jasmyn during her time at Valpo and am excited for her to bring her passion and intellect for the game to Ferris State. 

"Our student-athletes will immediately be impacted by Jasmyn’s mentorship and ability to help them develop on the court," he added. "Jasmyn is going to be a rising star in the coaching profession and a home run hire for our program.”

Last year, Walker was part of head coach Rick Albro's staff during the 2019-20 campaign at Davenport. That followed her own four-year playing career on the college level, which included time at both Valparaiso (2014-16) and Western Michigan (2016-18). In those four seasons on the hardwood, Walker played in 111 games with just as many starts and racked up 1,147 points, averaging 10.3 per game. If not for a season-ending knee injury 20 games into her redshirt junior season, Walker likely would have gone on to start every single game of her collegiate career.

As a true freshman at Valpo, Walker was named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team as she started every game while notching 10.1 points and 8.3 rebounds a contest in addition to shooting 65 percent from the field. The 5-10 forward set the program record for rebounds by a freshman (250) and that mark was good for sixth in a single season. Walker started every game as a sophomore as well while leading the Crusaders in points (12.2), rebounds (8.0), free throws made (97) and attempted (142).

After sitting out 2016-17 due to NCAA transfer rules, Walker started the Broncos' first 20 games of 2017-18 with 8.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. She rounded out her playing career in 2018-19 by compiling 10.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 dimes per contest. That season, on Jan. 16 vs. Toledo, Walker scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career.

Prior to Valpo, Walker prepped at Muskegon's Mona Shores where she was a four-year standout on the court under head coach Brad Kurth, who also served as a FSU assistant coach the last three years under former Bulldog head coach Kendra Faustin. She set numerous rebounding records, including a single-game mark of 23 in her sophomore campaign. The four-time All-State honoree was an academic all-state selection and the MLive.com Player of the Year following her senior campaign in which she averaged 18.6 points and 8.6 rebounds a game. Walker, who also competed in track and field, was also a Muskegon Area Hall of Fame nominees and is the school's all-time leading rebounder.

The Bulldogs claimed the GLIAC North Division Championship and made the school's first NCAA Division II Tournament berth in eight years last season. Westendorp, who previously served two years (2010-12) as the Bulldogs' top assistant coach and has more than a decade of coaching experience on the collegiate level, returns to Ferris State and will welcome back eight letterwinners this coming year.