There’s No Doubt in Harmon’s Mind: Hawking’s the Man

Ike Harmon says he has no doubt the best person to coach the Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team is Bob Hawking.

“I don’t want to start all over again,” said Harmon, who was Fullerton’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder this season as a sophomore. “The shoe I’ve got on fits, and I want to wear it.”

Hawking’s status remains uncertain, however, after the Titans’ season ended Saturday with a loss to Utah State in the Big West Conference tournament semifinals. The Aggies beat Pacific the next day for the title.

Hawking is in the last year of a three-year contract that expires March 30, and the school’s administration still has made no announcement about his future.

“It’s something I can’t control, but I know Coach [Hawking] has helped me a lot,” Harmon said. “He showed a lot of patience with me after coming off the whole year of sitting out. I had some problems because of that, and he helped me get through them.”

Harmon missed his freshman year as a Proposition 48 nonqualifier.

“He didn’t have a silver spoon, and he did the best job he could this season,” Harmon said. “He didn’t let us get down on ourselves when we lost some games, and we came back and had a good tournament. We lost to a good team [Utah State], and it wasn’t by much.”

As the team’s top returning player, Harmon’s opinion should be worthy of consideration by the school’s administration.

Harmon says the Titans, 12-16 this season, can be improved next year.

While Fullerton loses senior guards Chris Dade and Chris St. Clair, along with part-time starter Craig Whitehead, it will have some young players with potential returning in addition to Harmon.

Redshirt sophomore Kenroy Jarrett came a long way in the last month of the season at point guard, and freshmen centers Matt Caldwell and Corey Sanders both showed long-range potential.

Junior Mark Richardson, a starter throughout the season at forward, will be back, and senior Jason Cunningham is optimistic he will get another season to make up for sitting out last year because of an NCAA eligibility mix-up.

“Getting another year for Cunningham would help us a lot,” Harmon said.

Assistant coach Ronnie Dean also is optimistic the two players he signed from the St. Louis area--guard Brandon Campbell and forward Josh Helbig--can also provide immediate help next season.

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Campbell also should provide a boost to Coach John Elders’ track team.

Campbell, from Cardinal Ritter High in St. Louis, is strong in the triple jump, long jump and 400 meters, according to Elders.

“One of the reasons he chose Fullerton is that we have a track program, and some of the other schools he was considering for basketball didn’t,” Elders said.

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The Titan baseball team, 16-6 after winning 10 of its last 11 games, continues to receive solid pitching.

Benny Flores leads the team with a 5-0 record and a 1.49 earned-run average before giving up two runs in Friday’s 16-2 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Erasmo Ramirez, who has been troubled by some bad pitching luck, also won against UC Santa Barbara last weekend to boost his record to 2-3 with a 3.35 ERA. The third starter, freshman Jon Smith, is 2-0 with a 4.03 ERA.

Freshman Adam Johnson (1-0, 0.77 ERA) has been sensational in his six relief appearances, striking out 25 in 12 2/3 innings.

“Johnson has clearly established himself as our closer,” pitching coach Dave Serrano said. “The thing we need to do now is solidify our middle relief.”

“This past weekend was probably our worst of the weekend from a pitching standpoint,” Serrano said. “Smith wasn’t as good as he has been. He needs to mix more of his pitches and get his curveball in for strikes. Erasmo has been pitching better than his record all along, but he went out this weekend a little too much results-oriented. He’s pitched better in the games he has lost.

“Flores has been consistent. There’s nothing phenomenal about what he throws, but he’s very competitive.”

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Titan outfielder Aaron Rowand, who sprained his elbow in a collision with infielder David Bacani in a game last week, started Friday’s game in right field and had one hit--a home run--in four at-bats.

“He’ll be evaluated on a day-to-day basis for a while, but it doesn’t appear to be as bad as it might have been,” Coach George Horton said. “We thought at first he might be out two to three weeks.”

Rowand and Bacani collided when they tried to catch a pop fly in right field.

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The Titan women’s fencing team was third and the men’s team fourth in the NCAA Regionals last weekend at Stanford.

Jesse Carlson was fourth in men’s epee and qualified for the nationals. Margaret McCarthy was fifth in women’s epee and is expected to qualify as an at-large selection.

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Coming Attractions

Key events this weekend for Cal State Fullerton:

* Baseball at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 7 tonight and 1 p.m. Sunday.

* Track and field men’s and women’s teams host the Ben Brown Invitational, today, at the Titan track complex. Field events begin at 10 a.m. and running events at 11 a.m.

* Softball at Sacramento State noon today and against Lehigh 5 p.m. Monday at Titan Field.

* Women’s gymnastics against California and North Carolina, 7 p.m. today, Titan Gym.