Hawk homecoming: QU hires former hoops coach Hawkins to return to helm of men’s program

QUINCY — Steve Hawkins made the 430-mile drive from Kalamazoo, Mich., to Quincy by himself Tuesday night, but he was hardly alone.

“Word started to seep out the last couple of days in the coaching world,” said Hawkins, who was introduced Wednesday as the next Quincy University men’s basketball coach. “My phone … well, it blew up. A 6½-hour drive never went so quick because I was never off the phone.

“High school coaches, AAU coaches and former players more than anything else. The outpouring from the relationships I’ve made in this business was incredible.”

It isn’t stopping anytime soon.

QU athletic director Josh Rabe formally introduced Hawkins as the Hawks’ coach during a 2:30 p.m. press conference Wednesday. By the time the media interviews were finished around 3:30 p.m., Hawkins looked at his phone and had 27 text messages waiting to be read.

“I cleaned it out before we started the press conference,” Hawkins said.

It’s the kind of reaction Rabe, QU President Dr. Brian McGee and the university administration hoped for by bringing back a beloved former coach.

The 59-year-old Hawkins spent 1991-2000 as the QU head coach, guiding the Hawks to a 137-111 record and three NCAA Division II national tournament appearances. His 1993-94 team went 23-7, which is tied for the sixth most single-season victories in program history.

It’s the kind of history and perspective the administration saw as needed to change the program’s trajectory. The Hawks went 53-82 over the past five seasons and didn’t finish higher than 10th in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings.

QU decided to make a change on February 11 when Ryan Hellenthal was fired as head coach. Less than a month later, intent on getting a jump on recruiting and rebuilding the program, the Hawks have a new head coach in place.

“We found the right guy,” Rabe said. “We need to re-establish our program not only inside the GLVC, but nationally. NCAA Division II and our conference are both kind of in flux with people leaving and reclassifying as Division I. So this is our opportunity.

“This is our opportunity to not only get this hire right but to make a move to the upper echelon of the league again.”

Hawkins left Quincy in 2000 to become an assistant coach at Western Michigan, was elevated to the head coaching position with the Broncos in 2003 and led them to a 291-262 record over 17 seasons with two NCAA Division I national tournament appearances.

Following the 2019-20 season, Hawkins’ contract was not renewed, but he never strayed far from college basketball.

“I was never really out of it,” Hawkins said. “I didn’t feel disconnected from the game ever.”

He spent the 2020-21 season as a color analyst for college basketball broadcasts on ESPN3, started his own podcast about college basketball called “Next Possession” and engaged in numerous speaking engagements. Last fall, he dipped back into coaching at Portage Northern High School, but he knew the college game beckoned.

“I was like, ‘OK, am I going to go back in as a high major assistant? Am I going to go back in with another head coaching position at the Division I level?’” Hawkins said. “But when this came up, it was like, Wait a minute, there’s a comfort level here. I know what I’m dealing with. I know how to do the job there already. I know the school. I know the city.’

“Now, I had to brush up on the recruiting pitch in my head, but I remember basically what it is. With the 20 years of experience behind me at Western Michigan, it did nothing but grow relationships.”

Those relationships influenced this coaching search.

Upon learning of Hellenthal’s firing, several former QU players — guys who played for Hawkins — were in immediate contact with Rabe.

“I had a couple of them stop by my office and they were like, ‘We still talk to him a lot,’” Rabe said. “I get it. They’re Steve Hawkins fans. But it had to be a fit for the athletic department and it had to be a fit for him, too.”

So informal discussions began and there was immediate interest from both sides.

It took a formal interview, a campus visit and a trip around the Gem City for Hawkins’ wife, Kelly, and their daughters, Emily and Alyssa, to experience the city and possible lifestyle here to guarantee this was the right fit for everyone.

That included a visit to Gem City Gymnastics to see if Alyssa might enjoy training there.

“We came down last weekend and took a look around,” Hawkins said. “My youngest daughter is a little gymnast, so we set up a meeting with Gem City Gymnastics to go out there and look around. We walked in and she was like, ‘I don’t want to come here.’ By the time we left, she was excited about the coaches, she had met all the girls and she was really excited about it.”

His wife’s stamp of approval sealed the deal.

“She has the protective mom and the protective wife shield up at all times,” Hawkins said. “So it was like, ‘OK, they’re basketball crazy there, but are we going to have to put up with like crazies?’ That never goes away, so of course we are. That’s part of coaching.

“But it was more of could she see a life here and could she see our daughters and potentially my step-son living here. Could she see that life? Once my kids got comfortable here and liked a bunch of the places we went, then it was like, ‘Oh, they have a lot of things here.’”

That comfortability was crucial.

“Coming here as a husband and a father was the hardest part about making this decision,” Hawkins said. “Once they got on board and became excited about it, then it was much easier for me to get excited about it again.”

It made Rabe even more confident he’d found the right coach.

“Obviously, he’s been in the business a long time,” Rabe said. “He has a wide collection of contacts. People who have given him players in the past trust him. Two, I think he’s a good person and he develops relationships with his players. His former players speak very, very highly of him.”