Relinquishing Command : After Calling the Shots as Head Coach at Simi Valley High, Bob Hawking Learns to Adjust to a Lesser Role at Pepperdine

A year ago, the view from the top looked like this for Bob Hawking: In a community stricken with basketball fever, he was head coach at Simi Valley High, celebrated as the man who assembled and nurtured a star-studded team that would go on to claim the Valley’s No. 1 ranking and a Southern Section 4-A Division title.

Hawking, 39, has a different view today: from the bottom looking up. Last spring, he left power and status behind at Simi Valley and took an entry-level job as a part-time assistant at Pepperdine.

“It had been in the back of my mind for a long time,” he said. “I wanted to give college a shot.”

Hawking was sitting in his “humble abode”--a tiny office atop Firestone Fieldhouse at Pepperdine. Across the reception area, Coach Tom Asbury watched tapes in a large office that came equipped with a panoramic view of the ocean. The difference was not lost on Hawking when he looked out his window and saw the roof of the gym and, in the distance, the brown Malibu hills.

“Coming from high school, I had to make a few adjustments,” he said, adding with an ironic laugh, “and I’m experiencing a little different world.”

Hawking’s old world included a short drive from his home to the high school. Now he has a 45-minute commute, a change that he called “my No. 1 adjustment, believe it or not.”

Ranking as the No. 2 adjustment is, as he said: “I’m not the boss.” Which should be a difficult situation for a coach such as Hawking, who was known for having absolute control and authority. But his ego doesn’t seem to be taking much of a beating. He knew it would be like this.

“My ideas about the game and practice and strategy are no longer” the final word, he said. “And my decisions and opinions aren’t nearly as valued as they once were. But Asbury’s great to work with, which made No. 2 an easy adjustment.”

Something else also greased the transition. Hawking was coach at Simi Valley for 14 years, posting a record of 230-119, and he still teaches there. He has 4 classes a day: 2 physical education and 2 record-keeping, in which he instructs future breadwinners on the mysteries of balancing a checkbook.

Getting paid by the high school helps offset what Asbury referred to as “a job that doesn’t really pay very well.” Although he does as much work and has as much responsibility as Pepperdine’s 2 full-time assistants, Hawking is not paid as much. But because of his teaching job, “It’s been easy for me financially to go into college ball,” Hawking said. “The move hasn’t been as dramatic for me as it is for other guys.”

Like full-time assistants Bob Williams and David Campbell, Hawking helps run practice and works 7 days a week during the season. He also does 90% of the Waves’ scouting. Although he emphasized scouting at Simi Valley--he and his staff scouted 30 of the teams in last season’s CIF playoffs--travel was minimal, restricted mostly to the Los Angeles area. Now, he ranges all over California and as far as Texas and Utah.

Travel forced Hawking to miss Pepperdine’s first 4 games, a situation he labeled “my toughest adjustment.”

“When you’re involved in the learning process with the kids at practice, you want to be part of the games,” he said. “Not being there is a little bit of a hollow feeling. But at this level, you roll with the punches.”

To get ahead in college coaching, Hawking also will have to duck the problem of his age. Most college coaches leave the high schools when they’re in their late 20s, Asbury said, adding that “39 is an advanced age but not a terminal condition.”

One of 8 candidates for the part-time job when Asbury replaced Jim Harrick last spring, Hawking impressed Asbury “with his vast coaching background.” According to NCAA rules, a part-time coach is not allowed to recruit off-campus, meaning that Hawking can contact prospects only by phone from his office. Other than that, Asbury regards Hawking as equal to the full-time assistants.

The NCAA regulates the number of full-time assistants schools may have. In January, the NCAA is supposed to change the part-time designation to full-time, so Hawking, Asbury said, will get a pay raise in addition to having regular recruiting duties.

Five or 6 years ago, Hawking said, he was offered a full-time assistant job at Pepperdine but turned it down to “finish the project”--which meant staying with a group of Simi Valley players he had been with since they were in second grade. That would include Don MacLean, Shawn DeLaittre and Hawking’s son Butch, the nucleus of the Pioneer teams that lost only 9 games in 3 years and won 3 Marmonte League titles.

Several players on Hawking’s teams have gone on to major colleges. Mark Robinson is at Indiana, Travis Bice is at Nevada Las Vegas, Butch Hawking is at the Air Force Academy, Marty Wilson is the Waves’ starting point guard and MacLean starts for UCLA.

It is no secret that Hawking had hoped to land an assistant’s job under Harrick at UCLA this season. “I was treated fairly, but it just didn’t work out,” he said.

To get ahead in college coaching, Hawking realizes, he probably will have to leave the Los Angeles area, a move he said that he would make. In the meantime, Hawking just appreciates what he has: Pepperdine, a Division I school on the shores of the Pacific.

“I get inspired when I come through that canyon and see the big blue,” Hawking said. “It really charges your battery.”