Lost Opportunities May Again Knock for a Player’s Coach

Players-turned-coaches are not unusual in sports, where the progression seems almost natural to athletes whose playing days have ended.

Karina Hardman gives the setup a new twist.

The Moorpark College sophomore was a coach before she became a standout player for the Lady Raiders’ women’s basketball team two seasons ago.

Hardman, 23, was a walk-on coach for the Royal High girls’ basketball team for two seasons after she had averaged 15 points a game and led the Highlanders to a Marmonte League title.

She attracted the attention of several colleges as a high school senior but decided to forgo opportunities to attend Cal State Los Angeles and Nevada-Reno on scholarship. She never followed up on visits she had made to coaches at USC and Azusa Pacific, either.

But Hardman, who was named to the junior college all-state team and was the Western State Conference Player of the Year for 1987-88, does not regret those decisions.

“I was tired of school, and I was tired of thinking about where I was going to go to college,” she said.

“At the time, I think I just wasn’t ready to handle it. I feel like I’ve grown and I think now I feel a little more secure in myself.”

Hardman says her growth as an athlete came during the two years she spent coaching at Royal.

“Being a coach definitely has helped me to be a better player,” she said. “I think I’m a much better player now than I ever was during high school.”

What Hardman really wants is to be a better coach, which is why she made the decision in 1986 to enroll at Moorpark, where she is a liberal arts major. “It was just a personal decision I had to make,” she said. “I was really enjoying coaching, but I want to be able to do it on a full-time basis, and I thought the best way to do that would be if I could teach, too.

“I had been thinking about going back to school, anyway, and I didn’t want to wait until years later.”

Still, the decision to go back to school was not an easy one.

“I had just had a baby, and that was exciting; and I’d coached for two years and learned a lot from that,” she said. “I loved it and I was really enjoying myself. I think the girls were able to learn something from me--and I know I learned a lot from them.”

Hardman had not been in school since she graduated from Royal in 1982, but her transition from a part-time walk-on coach to a full-time college student-athlete was made easier by the presence at Moorpark of her sister, Michele Brown, and longtime family friend, Debra Rabin. Hardman had coached both at Royal.

Brown encouraged the move, but she wasn’t sure what to expect once Hardman revived her playing career.

“She was really overweight at first, and for a while, I didn’t think she was even going to last one quarter,” Brown said. “But once she got into condition again, she started doing really well.”

Hardman averaged 18 points a game as a freshman and found basketball was still important to her.

“I thought maybe I could get a scholarship again,” Hardman said. “I feel like I’m playing at Division I level.”

During the past season, she led the Lady Raiders with a 24.7 scoring average. She was best on the team in free-throw percentage (81.6), assists (125) and steals (121), and had one stretch of 14 games in which she scored 20 or more points. She finished as Moorpark’s career scoring leader with 1,271 points.

Coach Gary Abraham of Moorpark is certain Hardman is major-college material.

“I think she’d be an excellent off-guard for somebody at that level,” he said.

Whether Hardman will get that chance is questionable. Arizona State contacted her during the season, but its interest waned.

Hardman still is considering UC Santa Barbara, which also has contacted her or, she said, she may try to make the USC women’s team as a walk-on.

“At this point, I haven’t decided,” she said. “But no matter what, I’m going to finish school. I want to coach again, full time.”