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DIRECTV WOODEN LEGACY MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 13, 2014Steve HawkinsTIM SIMMONS: Coach Hawkins, I guess it's a homecoming for you. You're coming back to California where you have some roots? STEVE HAWKINS: Yeah, we're really looking forward to it. I was born and raised in Ventura, and went to school out there until I was 21, so, yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited about bringing our team back out there. Probably as excited about getting to the weather out there as much as I am anything else. Q. Before I ask you about your team, obviously, you're playing in a tournament named for John Wooden, the legendary coach. Obviously you worked with him. Your thoughts about playing in this tournament and with one of his former players with you? STEVE HAWKINS: Yeah, I mean, that's part of it. I mean, it's a huge honor to be playing in this. I had the opportunity to work for Coach Wooden for several years at his camps, and then went on to basically my role was kind of like an assistant director of the camp. We were able to develop a good friendship with him as well as his family. So we were really honored. He came back here and spoke at Western Michigan a few years ago for me as a fundraiser, and now we also have Larry Farmer on our staff, the former head coach at UCLA. He's back for his third year with us, and he played for Coach Wooden as well. We laugh all the time because my relationship with Coach Wooden was very, very different than his. I knew him as the guy that was kind‑hearted and quoted Abraham Lincoln and his favorite person was Mother Theresa. Coach Farmer saw a whole different side of him as a stern disciplinarian as a coach. But we're both really, really excited about being able to get out there and play in a tournament named for Coach. Q. Coach, let's talk basketball, how's your team progressing through the preseason? STEVE HAWKINS: Up and down so far. We have a veteran team. With a veteran team comes good and bad. I literally just walked off the practice floor where we had a terrible practice, and sometimes veterans, especially when you get to this time of the year when the season begins this weekend, you get to this point in time and they just want to play games. Sometimes that's a curse. Sometimes you hope when it comes to game time that it's a lot better because they've been there before. So it's been a little bit up and down in practice, but for the most part I've been pleased. We've been able, again for the most part, to stay away from injuries, thank goodness. We had one big kid hurt that won't be ready for the tournament, but will be ready shortly after that. Q. Coach, what do you see as your strengths? You talked about being a veteran team. Obviously, you're the dean of coaches in the MAC right now and been there several years. What are the strengths and any concerns that you might have about your team? STEVE HAWKINS: Yeah, I think our ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter. We've been shooting it pretty well and we have four guys back, four starters back from last year's team. We lost our big guy due to graduation. Shayne Whittington, who is now playing with the Indiana Pacers. So that's a big loss. But the four guys that started last year got quality minutes in big games for us and got some good NCAA Tournament experience behind them. And our starting 1, 2, 3, can shoot it pretty well. We bring some guys off the bench that shoot it pretty well most of the time too. So that's all good. The concerns are can we defend fully? Because that shooting doesn't always go with you. Defense and rebounding, you can put in a suitcase and pack that anywhere you go. So we've got to be a little more consistent defensively. Then obviously we have to do some things to establish an inside game with our one senior from last year gone, Shayne Whittington. We've got to do a little more to establish an inside game here also. Q. Who are some of your top players? You talk about the veterans and good shooters. Who are some of the players? STEVE HAWKINS: David Brown is our starting off guard. He was the leading scorer in the MAC last year as a senior, and he's back for a sixth year. He's coming off of two separate ACL injuries, and has been with us now for the last couple of years healthy. So he's back, and a really, really good player for us. We rely heavily on him. Then Connor Tava is our starting four man. He's kind of an undersized four. But he led us in assists last year from that spot. He's kind of a point forward. Then our other two guys started for us last year, Austin Richie as a point guard, and Tucker Haymond at the small forward. All four of those guys are pretty good for us. We rely heavily on those guys, core four. Q. Coach, I know you have several games prior to getting to Anaheim, but obviously you're going to play a non‑bracketed game in San Diego on the 24th and then the tournament. So what are your thoughts about playing San Diego and then starting in the tournament against Long Beach State, so you've got two pretty good teams off the West Coast to play with? STEVE HAWKINS: Yeah, again, it's something we're‑‑ well, as excited as you can be to play a good team. It's kind of a double‑edged sword there. You want to play good teams until it's time to play them. And I've known Coach Grier for a long time at University of San Diego, his assistant coach, Mike Burns. So we've known each other forever. So we talked about this, and it's an opportunity for us to get out there on West Coast time before the tournament begins. We'll have a little bit of fun with it. Being in San Diego is not the worst thing in the world, especially around that time of year here in Kalamazoo. I'm looking outside right now, and it's snowing. So we'll be able to do that. Then they're returning the game next year. They're coming back here. So this will be a really good home‑and‑home series for us against a quality West Coast team and good friends. We know they do it the right way, and they run a class program. Then I also know Coach Monson really well at Long Beach State. And we didn't ask to be paired, that's for sure, but they've been one of the best programs out there on the West Coast the last several years. They schedule very difficult, and they're always really well‑coached. So our first two games out there, it's not like we're looking at anything out there and saying this will be easy. It's a quality field and one that we're excited about participating in. But those first two games that we know are playing are going to be difficult. Q. Coach, you've obviously played in the ESPN tournaments before. Do you like the format, play in two days, and then off a day, and then play in the final day in the championship placement games? STEVE HAWKINS: I absolutely love these tournaments. I think we're going to be the first team after we participate in this, we will be the first team to participate in all of the ESPN tournaments. We'll have hit them all. One in Hawaii, Charleston, Puerto Rico. We'll be the first team to participate in all of them. It's tremendous. ESPN does a great job of taking care of the student‑athletes. There's good accommodations. It's a great location wherever the tournament is, and then the format is tremendous Thursday, Friday, Thanksgiving. As a team, it's a team‑building, team‑bonding experience. Before the season begins, of course you want to win, but you play great competition. You're on the road together, you know, and then you take Saturday off to get ready for Sunday's game. I think by the time we all hit that Saturday, it's a day needed off. So it's tremendous for us. We've had nothing‑‑ even the year we went to Puerto Rico and lost all three games one year. We've come out of tournaments 2‑1. We haven't won one of these. We've come out of them 2‑1, 1‑2, 0‑3 a couple of times. But no matter what happens coming out of this, you're a better basketball team for having played against this kind of competition. And you really feel like you participated in something that was first class. They make you feel great. Q. Coach, I'm doing a story for basketball teams on team camaraderie in the social media era. I'm wondering in the last couple of years especially, do you feel those things have weakened the bond among your players? Are they Tweeting and texting and have noise‑cancelling head phones instead of talking to each other and hanging out and becoming a tighter group? STEVE HAWKINS: Yeah. Thank you for that question. Yeah, it's an interesting subject and it's an evolving one. I'm 52, and so would I rather people be social? Sure. I'd much rather our guys be social. I'd much rather this generation be more social. It's not just athletes. You walk around‑‑ I drive around our campus, and you can see college students everywhere walking with their headphones in and our president, he talks about it all the time. He says, "We need to be a heads‑up campus. We walk around with our heads up instead of down. Greet another person, say hello to that person." Because I think that's the way it is going to be when they get into their business world, when they get into the rest of their lives, they're going to have to communicate well. So we try and turn things in to things like that and into life lessons and point it out. At the same time as a coach you know that you're in their world, and you have to be able to communicate with them and you have to be able to have some fun with them with that kind of thing. I know that's a huge part of this generation, a huge part of the world, and we've got to step into it. It's not something I can moan and groan about, as much as I'd like to. But you have to step into their world a little bit and let them know that that's okay. I have a Twitter account. I have a Facebook account, you know, and we get involved with that. The only thing really we try to do is talk to the guys about being careful what they Tweet out and what they put out there. Keep in mind that there are going to be fans, there are going to be people that look up to them. There is going to be in some cases these guys want to go on and play overseas or professional basketball. There are more and more employers, and we try to make them aware of that, that are actually getting onto Facebook accounts and Twitter accounts to see what you're all about, because those things reflect your personality. So we try to add to it. I guess, that is a long way of saying we try to turn it into a life lesson, try to moderate a little bit about what's going on. We follow all of our guys as well. At the same time, really try and talk to them about, "One day when you have kids, you don't want to see them with their heads buried in their phone. You'd like to have a conversation with them. So one day maybe you'll get it. But for right now, let's talk to each other." TIM SIMMONS: Coach, thank you very much for participating. We look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks in Anaheim. STEVE HAWKINS: Thank you so much for the interest. Looking forward to it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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