Walls steps down at Westfield, Craig takes over

Thomas Craig was boys basketball head coach at John Milledge before moving to Westfield as an assistant.

Now, he's heading the Hornets.

Craig is taking over for Jake Walls, who resigned recently after 11 seasons as head coach of the Hornets.

Walls, a 1995 graduate of Westfield, was 156-131 with his alma mater. He graduated from Covenant College near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“Jake just wanted to take a step back," said Westfield athletics director Chip Champion, also the girls basketball head coach. “Slow down, spend more time with his family, like we all should be.”

Walls isn’t leaving Westfield, however. He will be the offensive coordinator for new football head coach Jamey Watson, and said he’ll coach C-team basketball.

Craig and Walls, the father of six, coached together at FPD years ago. Craig graduated from Windsor, and was also head coach there after leaving FPD. Craig will begin his third year at Westfield this fall.

“Basketball’s a rough sport,” Walls said, noting the 70-hour weeks as a football assistant and basketball head coach. “The long winters, you miss all those holidays. I just got wore down.”

He noted some health issues, including diabetes, as part of the reason. Having Craig on staff, however, played a big role in Walls’ decision.

“We have an assistant coach who really could handle the program,” said Walls, 38. “I felt like it would be in great hands. It makes the decision a lot easier on me knowing the program is in the hands of somebody who’s going to do a good job.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Walls steps down at Westfield, Craig takes over."