4 minute read
Hawk Talk
WE'RE COMING BACK
by Max Bennett ’17
ENERGY, ENERGY, ENERGY! This is the message from Men’s Basketball Head Coach Steve Hawkins and Assistant Coach Tim Walsh.
“We’re coming back, but these are batteries charged,” said Coach Hawkins. “I mean full, fully charged. Fully excited on what we’re building, on top of that with 25 years of experience behind this from the last time we were here.”
The last time Steve “Hawk” Hawkins and Tim “Wishy” Walsh graced the Quincy University sidelines was back in the 1990s. For Hawkins, he was last here from 1990 to 2000, while Walsh was his assistant from 1994 to 1998. When a program has a coaching duo like Hawk and Wishy, one may think, what came first - a friendship or the coaching partnership? The two coaches became friends around 1988. Hawk had just arrived in Quincy, while Wishy was coaching at Quincy Junior High School. After the two worked camps together, the first time Coach Hawkins became head coach, he knew who was the right fit for his assistant coach.
Having a chance to see him work, I could see how good he was as a coach. So when an assistant spot became available, that’s when I offered him the job and that’s when he came on board.
—Steve Hawkins
Not everything was smooth sailing during their first stint together on the Hawk bench, but the two coaches knew the community was something special.
People we knew and people we didn’t know, just the well wishes and the excitement and how they were happy to have us back. That’s something that really sticks with you.
—Tim Walsh
QU men’s basketball team photo 1997
FAST FORWARD TO MARCH 9, 2022... the day that Steve Hawkins officially returned as the head coach of the Quincy University Men’s Basketball program.
Before Hawk was officially announced, Coach Walsh’s phone was blowing up asking if he was coming back to Quincy.
Walsh’s boss at Mineral Area Community College asked “If Hawk gets that job, would you go? I said, well, yeah it’s a no brainer,” explained Coach Walsh. On the drive back to his hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Hawk called Wishy. During that phone call, “I think it’s going to be five seconds to say yes,” said Wishy.
Brian McGee, PhD and Coach Hawkins at press conference announcing Hawkins returning to QU QU team 1997-98 season, made it to NCAA DII Regional Semifinals
29 • YEARS WA L S H HAS AT INTERCOLLE G I ATE LEVEL 20+ • YEARS HAW K I NS HAS AT INTERCOLLE G I ATE LEVEL
Once they figured out the process to get Tim Walsh hired as the assistant basketball coach, he was officially announced just 20 days after Steve Hawkins was introduced as the head basketball coach. “There was a no brainer, it was right away,” explained Hawk on bringing Walsh back.
There’s a lot of trust through the years that has been built up, and then the other part of that was, he knows the city already.
—Steve Hawkins
“The experience he’s bringing here, it’s not just as a long-time assistant coach, but he’s been a head coach as well,” said Hawk of Walsh’s coaching career. Tim Walsh has been around the block in the college and high school coaching ranks. Twenty nine years of intercollegiate experience, including stops at various levels of basketball. He has made stops at Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Missouri. Wishy has patrolled a NCAA Division One sideline at Idaho State University and the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. This is the third stint for Tim Walsh at Quincy University as he spent the 1986–1987 season at QU, which was the first year the Hawks participated in Division II basketball.
When you mention experience, Steve Hawkins has 20 plus years by himself. After the stint at QU in the 90s, Hawk went on to the Division One ranks. He spent twenty seasons in Kalamazoo on the Western Michigan University sidelines. During his tenure with the Broncos, Hawk compiled a record of 291 wins and 262 loses, including seven 20-win seasons.
In his first coaching stint at Quincy University, Hawkins compiled a record of 137-111 and had three NCAA Division II tournament appearances.
What kind of basketball will the Hawks play under Hawkins and Walsh? We took that question to the coaches. “Our program's not for everybody because we're going to be very demanding of being physically and mentally tough defensive minded,” said Hawkins. “It’s representative of this community. It’s work hard, play hard, that’s what Quincy’s always been about for me anyway. They’re going to play really hard, and they’re going to do it with a smile on their face… it’s going to be very family oriented.”
There are a few things the staff is looking forward to come the fall of 2022. “The first day of practice, the first day of watching the guys when they combine (returners and newcomers), and here’s our team, that gives me butterflies,” explained Coach Hawkins.
