ANALYSIS : Hawking Has His Work Cut Out for Him

The easiest part is over for Bob Hawking.

That was winning the job as Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball coach.

The toughest part for Hawking and his staff will be turning around a program that has won only 15 games in the last two seasons.

Hawking remains hopeful, even though he doesn’t expect it to happen overnight.

His philosophy: Rebuild the program from the ground up by recruiting players he can develop over four years.

But he won’t be starting over, the way a new coach would be. He has had two years as an assistant and one as interim coach.

Had Fullerton gone outside for a replacement, the players would have had their third coach in three years. It has been a revolving door, and Hawking wanted to change that.

He believes one of his strengths, as well as that of his staff, is player development. He sees the opportunity to work with an athlete for four years to his advantage.

But he says he won’t be reluctant to bring in a community college player with only two years of eligibility as long as he can be sure the player will improve things immediately.

Hawking’s coaching ability has drawn praise from his peers in the Big West Conference. It also impressed Athletic Director John Easterbrook during the season despite the Titans finishing 7-20, 5-13 in the Big West.

But good coaching can take a team only so far. The real test will be recruiting.

That’s where the Titans have taken their lumps for two years, although Hawking says he’s generally pleased with the incoming group.

He expects his commitment to the program to help. Part of the problem had been the uncertainty brought on by former Coach Brad Holland’s wanderlust.

A year ago, Long Beach guard Dion Holton committed to Fullerton but changed his mind when he learned Holland was trying to move to Pepperdine. Holton eventually signed with Portland. Holland wound up at the University of San Diego.

Fullerton’s lack of resources hasn’t helped. The recruiting budget is low by Big West standards, and in recent years coaches have been bound by a dollar figure for scholarships, instead of working with a specific number. That made it more costly to bring in players from out of state because of higher tuition costs.

Outdated Titan Gym also has been a big recruiting headache.

Easterbrook is committed to sprucing it up as much as possible. The playing floor is scheduled to be reworked this summer.

Chair seats could be added to at least one side of the gym floor, with the best of them sold on a season-ticket basis.

The university, however, must find the money for such a project.

“I know something like that would help our organization a lot,” said Lyle Parks, president of the Executive Playmakers, a fund-raising group for the basketball scholarship program. “I could get a lot more high-end contributors and businesses involved if there was some quality seating available there.”

Another boost would be to play at least a game or two each year at a more attractive off-campus site such as The Pond of Anaheim. Opponents would need drawing power of their own, however, because of the costs involved.

Hawking has been working to bring UCLA to The Pond for a game in the 1996-97 season. He said UCLA Coach Jim Harrick is in favor of it.

Television coverage is often a factor in recruits’ minds.

The UCLA game was on Prime Sports and five other games were carried by an Anaheim station, KDOC-TV, which is available on some area cable hookups.

But that’s a far cry from even one game on ESPN.

The Titans were shut out of the 10-game Big West package on ESPN last season, as were UC Irvine, San Jose State and Nevada. New Mexico State and UNLV were on four times.

“There are three primary considerations on getting on one of the ESPN games,” said Jody McRoberts, a Big West assistant commissioner who works with ESPN. “One is how the team did last season, then how it’s projected to do in the coming season, and then the quality of the playing facility.”

ESPN, she said, wouldn’t consider a telecast from Titan Gym because of its lighting and lack of camera space.

“Long Beach State was on the TV package three times last season, but part of Long Beach’s appeal was that they had a new facility, although they did finish in a tie for second a year ago, and also were projected to do well this past season,” McRoberts said.

It’s the same old story. Success breeds success. And that’s what makes the Fullerton job a difficult one, no matter who’s the coach.