MENS BASKETBALL:'Local guy’ returns to VU--The Post-Tribune
July 12, 2006
By Mark Lazerus / Post-Tribune staff writer
The day he was announced as the new assistant coach at one alma mater, Jason Hawkins spent the evening playing ball at his other one.
The newest member of the Valparaiso University coaching staff was at Bishop Noll High School on Tuesday evening, just getting in some open-gym time with area high schoolers.
“I’m a local guy through and through,” Hawkins said. “The region’s been good to me.”
The Crusaders hope the region will continue to be good to their newest assistant coach. Valparaiso is always mining Northwest Indiana for talent, and head coach Homer Drew hopes having Hawkins — a 2000 Bishop Noll grad, a 2003 VU grad and the head coach at Calumet College the last two seasons — can help the Crusaders bring in some local standouts.
“I think he’ll help tremendously,” Drew said. “There are a lot of good players in Northwest Indiana, and with his background, he brings good experience in and knowledge all the way through the Chicago area and throughout Indiana.”
Hawkins and Luke Gore —
last year’s director of basketball operations — fill the gaps left by Ivan Vujic (graduate assistant at DePaul) and Matt Bowen (head coach at Bemidji State).
Hawkins was a walk-on guard for the Crusaders in 2000, and saw playing time in each of his last three seasons at VU. He spent a year as a graduate assistant and director of basketball operations for Drew before taking the top job at Calumet College, where he led the Crimson Wave to a 30-34 record.
Now he’s ready to get back into the upper echelon of college basketball.
“I had the opportunity to be a head coach at the college level, and I’m incredibly grateful for that,” Hawkins said. “My goals are to one day be a head coach at the Division I level. Coach Drew’s giving me another opportunity to get back to the D-I level. I’m really excited.”
Drew and Hawkins spent plenty of time on the phone the last two years. And Hawkins wasn’t the only one fishing for help.
“We picked each other’s brains,” Drew said. “No matter what age or how long you’ve been around, you can always learn something new.”
Said Hawkins: “Anytime I had any problems, I could ask Coach Drew. And for him to even ask my opinion sometimes, that makes me feel great — like, wow, I can shed a little light.”
Hawkins, who has a masters in secondary education from VU, has one main goal as he returns to his alma mater — to help restore the program’s winning ways.
“We won a conference championship, either regular season or tournament, every year I was in college,” he said. “We want to get back to that tradition that Coach Drew started.”
Hawkins back home again--The NWI Times
IUPUI WOMEN’S BASKETBALL INKS SECOND JUNIOR COLLEGE TRANSFER--IUPUI JAGUAR ATHLETICS
Jason Hawkins Joins Valpo Coaching Staff--www.valpo.edu
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