Bears hire coaching veteran David Walker as running backs coach

Matt Eberflus has been working overtime to fill out his staff since being hired as the Bears' new head coach, and on Wednesday he added one of the most experienced minds yet.

The Bears are hiring coaching veteran David Walker as their new running backs coach, per a release from the team. Walker marks the 15th coordinator/assistant hired by Eberflus and new general manager Ryan Poles.

Walker, 52, brings 25 years of coaching experience with him to Chicago, including seven in the NFL. After a prolific college career as a running back at Syracuse, he got his start in coaching in 1994 at Miami Carol City Senior High School. He was there just one season before returning to his alma mater as the Orange's running backs coach.

He served as the leader of Syracuse's backfield from 1995 to 2003 before jumping to the University of Pittsburgh. He was the Panthers' running backs coach for the next seven seasons.

In 2011, he was named the running backs coach for Maryland, but reneged on that agreement not long later to leap to the pros as the running backs coach for the Colts under Jim Caldwell. Walker was retained by Indianapolis when Caldwell was fired one year later, and he went on to spend the next three years with the Colts before being fired after the 2014 season.

Walker spent the 2015 season back in the high school ranks, coaching at Carmel High School in Indiana. After one year, he returned to the NFL with the Lions. He spent three seasons as their running backs coach before stepping away from the profession in 2019 to pursue other opportunities, though he evidently could only stay away for so long.