Conversation with Coach – Art Walker, Jr. of North Allegheny
Tagged under: Coaches Corner, District 7, News, pfn
Phil Myers | September 18, 2025
Art Walker, Jr. is now the tenth all-time winningest football coach in the WPIAL (District 7). After beating Woodland Hills in the 2025 opener, his teams have won 255 games since 1998 when he began his coaching career at Pittsburgh Central Catholic. His legendary dad, Art Walker, Sr. has 213 wins, but there is someone else in the family with more wins than they have. Who that is comes later.
Art Walker, Jr. grew up with three sisters, Jeannine, Colleen, and Carrie. He went to Baldwin High School where he played wide receiver and defensive back on the football team, and he ran track. He graduated in 1988 and headed to Clarion University to play football and major in communications.
At Clarion, Walker was a wide receiver and return specialist. When he was a senior, he was a captain of the 1991 Golden Eagle football team. He made first team PSAC-West and was a FB Gazette All-American. He also ran track his last year, graduating in 1992. He was inducted into the Clarion University Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
He and his wife, Nikki, have five kids, Brody, Bryce, Brady, Casey, and Derek. The couple also have two granddaughters.
PM: “How important is it to have Nikki there? Things are different today, especially at a big school like NA. I’m sure it’s a 24/7, 365 day a year job. So, how important is it to have that support?
AW: “I couldn’t do it if I didn’t have the support. You’re coming home late, especially during the week on heavy work days. Fridays, home games are nice but sometimes you’re getting home really late on Fridays from away games. If you don’t have the support from people at home, I just don’t think you can do it long term like I have. It’s a big part of the reason, it’s the reason why I am able to do it. With Nikki holding the fort down with kids, with grandkids, and all those different things, and clearing my slate so I can just worry about what my job is and coaching football. I mean there’s no chance I could do it without her.”
PM: “Do you have a best team you’d like to talk about?”
AW: “At North Allegheny we had two state championship teams. The 2010 and the 2012 teams. But the ’12 team is the one that went through it unblemished without a loss. So, when you talk statistically, that team was pretty special. They just got into the WPIAL Hall of Fame too.”
Coach Walker was recognized as the 2012 National High School Coach of the Year by the National Sports News Service.
PM: “How was it growing up with a legendary dad?
AW: “It was a lot of fun. It’s really all I knew. It was one of those things that I grew up at camp, on the sidelines for games. I was at Mt. Lebanon Stadium a lot and I didn’t know anything other than Friday night football. There wasn’t anything better I could do on Friday nights when I was a kid growing up.”
PM: “Even now, right? I’m sure you look forward to it.”
AW: “Yeah, I mean western Pennsylvania football is still a big deal and the community comes out for it. It’s part of this area. I’m still excited to be a part of that.”
PM: “I read somewhere that you said about your mom, Bonnie, right? Your mom is the wins leader of the family. Would you like to expand on that a little?”
AW: “Well, people talk about when I passed my dad up for wins and stuff like that. And I said, you know I’m still not the leader in the family cause as far as I was concerned my mom has the most wins because she was at all of my dad’s games and almost all of mine. They do their best to come to games at 89 and 88. So, I had to give my mom credit for that because she’s been attending football games since, well her and my dad have been together since high school. For her, it’s been a hell of an accomplishment that she’s attended all of his games and mine. It’s been a big part of her life as well. She’s got the record. With mine and my dad’s, she’s talking like 460 some wins I think.”
Coach Walker sits at 255-72 (.780) for his career as a head coach after the first week of 2025. He is in his 21st year at North Allegheny where his record is 194-49 (.798). He has 5 WPIAL championships and 2 state titles at NA. His 7 years at Central Catholic produced 2 WPIALs and a state championship. PCC had never won a WPIAL football title before Coach Walker came on the scene.
PM: “How did you get into coaching?”
AW: “As soon as I got done playing, I started coaching. I had a semester left at Clarion. All my eligibility was gone. My first job was at Clarion-Limestone High School. I coached there and then upon graduating I was back home and started coaching around here. I just felt like, for me, it’s what I needed. I still needed to be around the game. I needed to be involved with football in some capacity. When I started coaching, I went and got certified as a teacher and continued to coach. I student taught and went through a short time as a substitute. I was at Clarion-Limestone. Then I was at Bethel Park High School. Then I was at Shady Side Academy. I coached a year with my dad when he came out of retirement. Then I was hired at West Allegheny as a teacher and I started coaching there. I was Bob Palko’s offensive coordinator.”
After 3 years at West Allegheny, Walker was hired in 1998 as Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s head coach at the age of 27. He chalked up a 61-23 record at PCC over his 7-year tenure before he was hired by North Allegheny in 2005.
PM: “How do you measure success?”
AW: “A lot of people are going to tell you wins and championships and all that stuff. I think consistency, the consistency of a program of putting quality teams on the field, developing your program and developing your players. Watching a player from the time he’s in 9th or 10th grade. What he may become then and what he turns into and you’re having a part in his development, not only as an athlete but as a young man is really the things you have to look at. The impact that you make on players’ lives is really important. The players have a special place in their heart for our program. We have a saying, ‘T4L’ which means Tiger for Life. Our past players and our current players all feel a part of it. They feel connected to one another.”
“We’ve had coaches that have been at North Allegheny the entire time I’ve been here. There’s a great work ethic within the staff. The staff cares about the program and the players. And when you have all that, I think, that’s when you start to generate a lot of true success. It’s not always going to be measured in wins and playoff appearances and the number of championships. There’s a lot of other factors that go into it (measuring success).”
PM: “What do you find is the toughest thing about coaching?”
AW: “Now?” he chuckled. “I guess what’s frustrating is that you don’t have as many kids that are doing multiple sports. I really think that they (the sports) help one another. I think kids in high school should be trying to participate in as many things as they can and be a multiple sport athlete, enjoying themselves and having fun.”
“Sometimes parents get too focused on trying to specialize in one thing. I get the parental involvement. In the last few years, it’s been difficult. It definitely has changed since I first started coaching. There was a time when it was you let the coaches coach and leave them alone, and they make the decisions. You kind of stay out of the way. Now there’s a lot of push to get involved more. That’s unfortunate.”
“Then there’s social media. Everything is so accessible and quick. You get pictures, players, and everybody’s trying to get noticed and bring attention to themselves. A lot of times it just expresses too much individuality. It’s a tough thing to monitor. It’s definitely a trickle down from what goes on and the attention NFL players get and the NIL with college players now. The attention they are getting and the constant transferring in the portal. It’s starting to slowly leak down into the high school level. I don’t really believe in a positive way at all.”
PM: “You chuckled when I asked what was the toughest thing about coaching. So, what was the toughest thing when you first began to coach?”
AW: “When you start out, it’s proving yourself. There are things you have to go through as a young coach that no one is going to tell you what the answers are. I probably chuckled because I think the most consistent thing over the years, and the most frustrating is parental involvement. Everybody’s an expert when you’re in the stands. When you pay your ticket, I guess you have your right to give your opinion but a lot of times people don’t stop and think.”
“Myself and my entire staff have hours that we put in to do the very best that we can do to put the best football team on the field and make their sons better. We’re the ones out there putting in the time away from our families to be with their children. I think there are times when that is lost. There’s nobody more competitive than me and my staff when it comes to wanting to win and putting the best product out there. We’ve proven that, so maybe we don’t have as many issues as some other places. It can be a very, very hard thing especially for a young coach starting out.”
PM: “What’s the biggest thrill you’ve gotten out of coaching so far?”
AW: “That’s a tough one. I think it’s the sense of accomplishment you have at the end of the season. It may not be a championship team or it might be. You’ve taken a group that exceeded expectations, proved a lot of people wrong. They developed, progressed more, they had a chemistry about them that made them different and separated them. When you go through an experience or season like that, that’s something that is great. They’re the reason you want to coach because they want to be coached, they want to get better. When you’re with a team like that, you truly enjoy that group of players, that makes coaching what it’s all about and that’s what makes it really fulfilling.”
PM: “What motivates you each year to keep coaching?”
AW: “It’s going to be different than it was the year before. Every single year is unique. It’s different. It has its own unique set of obstacles. A team may come together differently that you anticipated.”
PM: “What is the most important concept you try to teach your players.”
AW: “Be a great teammate. For us, that means not just on the field, that means you got to respect one another and put the team and the program first. We talk about being that way in the hallways, being that way in the community, being that way at home. If they truly believe in that, they do it and they live it. We can have a lot of great outcomes from it.”
We then touched upon how Coach Walker accounts for his success over the years. It goes back to his coaching staff, the limited turnover, how they all are pretty much on the same page, and consistency. He said he learned the importance of having great assistant coaches who are reliable. Walker admits he was a head coach in his late 20s but he really wasn’t ready.
PM: “What do you want your legacy to be?”
AW: “Whenever my time’s done at North Allegheny, I want people just to know that we left it better than we found it. We worked extremely hard to be a program that was recognized not just consistently across western Pennsylvania but around the state and even nationally. That we put good teams out there and our guys are going to play hard, that they’re going to work hard. They may not be the biggest or fastest, but when you wake up the next morning, you’re going to know you played us. If you leave a mark that people are going to remember the time you were there, it’s having a really solid and respected program. I think that’s the number one thing. Be thankful you were a part of it and made an impact on a lot of lives, you hope in a positive way, while you were there.”
PM: “Do you have any favorite games that come to mind?”
AW: “There’s a couple. There was a game we played Woodland Hills. We ended up losing. It went to triple overtime. Steve Breaston was the quarterback (for Woodland Hills). He went to Michigan and ended up playing in the pros as a wide receiver at the college and pro level. The Wolvarena was just so electric. It was jam packed. It was an amazing atmosphere. That one stands out because it was the atmosphere more than anything.”
“My first year at NA we upset North Hills and that was a huge rivalry back then. We were supposed to lose by three scores at least. That was the last game of the season and that win got us into the playoffs. Back then North Hills-North Allegheny was like Michigan-Ohio State. I think that really springboarded our program.”
“Then the WPIAL Championships are always something special. The 2010 WPIAL Championship and then the state game against LaSalle was very, very memorable. Bringing that state title to North Allegheny and the community with the support that we had, was pretty magical.”
PM: Is there anything, as a coach, you would like to see changed in the high school game?”
Coach Walker talked about the frustration of playing non-boundary schools, especially ones with kids from ‘many different zip codes.’ We talked about how it is not really a lot of schools, at least in football. He ended by saying, “I don’t think there’s a real definitive answer and that’s what makes it more difficult.”
PM: “Is there a football coach, past or present, that you’d love to sit down and pick his brain?”
AW: “Wow, that’s a heck of a question! Utmost respect to my dad. When I was a kid, I’d hang on his word. I’d sneak into the locker room when he was talking, doing his pregame speeches and things like that. Thankfully he’s still here, so we can still talk. There are some legendary guys like New Castle’s Lindy Lauro. He was a character. I’d really want to meet him.”
PM: “This can be on any level including college or pro.”
AW: “I think Bill Walsh would be a heck of a conversation. Extremely innovative. But then the other end of the spectrum with Lombardi because of his approach of being methodical. Those would be the two I would love to just be around and talk to.”
PM: Is there a place in the United States that you’ve never been to, but someday would like to get to?”
AW: “There’s a vast list of that,” he laughs. “I definitely want to go out west. Wyoming, Oregon, obviously Hawaii is on the list. One of the things I really want to do, and this is how lucky I am that I have a wife like this and she’s on board, is when I’m done coaching, I really want to travel in the fall and hit different college games at all the different iconic places. My wife has approved this trip. She said she thinks it would be fun. I think I’d just have to buy her a sweatshirt from every place we go whoever the team is she’s going to be rooting for. I definitely want to hit the rivalry games and maybe a big bowl game. I’m hoping that’s something we can do.”
PM: “I love that answer. Coach, what does your favorite meal consist of?”
AW: “My wife’s homemade pasta. It’s the real deal. It’s the sauce, it’s the meatballs, it’s everything. When she makes the Sunday dinner and it’s the homemade sauce, I feel like I don’t have to eat for a week when I’m done.”
PM: “To cap it off, what’s your favorite dessert?”
AW: “I’m a chocolate fan. I’m a sucker for chocolate cake with chocolate icing.”
PM: “What do you like to do when you have some spare time?”
AW: “I do fish in the spring. That’s something I take advantage of when I can. I do trout fish in the spring and try to get away and kind of get unplugged. Get to places that don’t have reception and try to recharge a little bit.”
PM: “What’s one thing people may not know about you.”
AW: “I don’t know. A lot of people know I fish. I love the beach. I’m a huge fan of the ocean. A lot of people don’t realize I have grandkids. I have two granddaughters. I feel like when I’m with them, I might be a totally different person.”
PM: “Any advice for the young kids out there?”
AW: “I really think it goes back to being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself. When you’re part of a team and you accomplish things together as a group and you’re a part of that and you know people are counting on you, depending on you, relying on you, that’s bigger than any individual thing you can accomplish because you’re sharing that with someone.”
PM: “Good. And then, what’s the outlook for the 2025 North Allegheny Tiger football season?”
AW: “We have high expectations as always. We’ve been working since January in the weight room. We got a few guys back on both sides of the ball, but we got big spots to fill and we’re expecting guys to compete. We’re going to do everything we can to return and have an opportunity to play for a championship.”
PM: Anything else you’d like to touch on or any other comments you have?”
AW: “No, man. I’m good. You hit it all.”
It was a pleasure to talk with Coach Walker. He was easy to talk with and very insightful. Although I never root for any team in games I attend, I wish him luck this year and all the coming years he continues to coach. It’s obvious he places a huge value on family and he has a gigantic place in his heart for his family and the support he gets from them. He also has succeeded in putting North Allegheny football in the conversation as one of the better programs in the state. NA only had one WPIAL title in football until Coach Walker came on the scene. Even though he coached a few years at Pittsburgh Central Catholic, I believe Mr. Walker is a T4L.
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