Head Coach 4th Season at WMU th Season Overall South Alabama, 1987

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1 Steve Hawkins Beginning his fourth season as head coach and seventh season at Western Michigan, Steve Hawkins is prepared to keep the Broncos at a level of success unparalleled in school history. The Broncos have made three of Western Michigan s six postseason appearances since Hawkins arrival in Kalamazoo and have rattled off five straight top-three Mid-American Conference finishes, the best mark in school history. Thanks to the team s efforts on the court, Bronco fans have been spoiled in recent campaigns with postseason appearances, all-conference caliber players, attendance records and television appearances (25 regional or national broadcasts since ). WMU had t h r e e - s t r a i g h t 20-win seasons and postseason a p p e a r a n c e s from , matching the previous total in both categories since the first season of Bronco basketball in Since , WMU is second in the MAC with 80 overall wins and third in conference wins with 46. After three straight 20-win seasons, the Broncos struggled out of the gate last season, but rebounded under Hawkins tutelage when conference play began. In a season Hawkins described as the most rewarding in my career, the Broncos responded by putting themselves in position to win a third consecutive MAC West Division title on the final day of the regular season. Not only were the Broncos successful on the court, but they continued to excel in the classroom. Senior Brian Snider and sophomores Joe Reitz and Andrew Hershberger made up three-fifths of the Academic All-MAC team and Reitz became the first ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District IV First Team selection for WMU since After a record-setting first year as head coach in , the Broncos followed with a 20-win campaign and National Invitation Tournament appearance in WMU became the first program ever to defend its West Division title and featured the winningest senior class in school history. WMU captured the MAC division, regular season and tournament championships en route to a 26-5 overall record in , the highest Head Coach 4th Season at WMU th Season Overall South Alabama, 1987 total in school history. The team appeared in the NCAA Tournament for just the third time since the program s inception after claiming the league s automatic bid with Western Michigan s first MAC Tournament championship. Along with individual and team success on the court, the Broncos gained national attention throughout the season. Included in the exposure was a national television broadcast (ESPN2) at University Arena, earned by the squad s quick start. Voted the top rookie head coach by Basketball Times and Coach of the Year by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan, Hawkins has also helped renew interest on campus and in the community. Three of the top five crowds in the last 10 years have packed University Arena since Hawkins took over the reins to cheer the Brown & Gold to victory. Players and coaches are heavily involved in organizations throughout the Kalamazoo area and the new student group, The Zoo, was a focal point for Hawkins during the offseason. Highly respected in his profession, Hawkins was a member of the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 voting panel last season. He has assembled one of the top coaching staffs not only in the WESTERN MICHIGAN BASKETBALL

2 conference, but the region as well. WMU s recruiting efforts have reached new heights and for the first time in recent memory the program has received a pair of early commitments from a player in his junior year. Hawkins also helped WMU sign the first Michigan Mr. Basketball in school history with 2006 award winner David Kool beginning his career at WMU this season. Named Western Michigan s 13th head coach on May 1, 2003, Hawkins didn t have to move any further than an office away after accepting the job. He had served the previous three seasons as the program s top assistant under former head coach Robert McCullum. A 20-year veteran of the collegiate ranks, Hawkins is only three wins away from capturing his 200th victory as a head coach. He has settled in the Midwest after beginning his career as a student at South Alabama and before arriving in Kalamazoo had already displayed the ability to direct a quality program, both on the court and in the classroom, at the NCAA Division II level. Hawkins, 44, served for nine seasons as head coach of the basketball Steve Hawkins Program Philosophy Our program philosophy is based on legendary coach John Wooden s definition of success. His defintion states, Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of selfsatisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. Success is all about being at peace with yourself. The only way to attain that is through your best effort. After all, what more can you give than your all? We feel this is important in any endeavor. Whether it is practice, the weight room, a game, the classroom, or simply setting aside time with family and friends, there should be maximum focus and attention given to that activity. The bottom line is if you can look in the mirror at the end of day and know that you did everything you could possibly do to make that day your masterpiece, then you are a success regardless of what any scoreboard may say. At Western Michigan, our goals are higher than 10 feet! program at Quincy University in Illinois. The Ventura, Calif., native guided the Hawks to an overall record of , a total that included three NCAA Division II Tournament selections. In only his third year at Quincy, Hawkins guided the Hawks to a 19-9 record and the first of back-to-back NCAA berths. The following year ( ) Quincy advanced to the Great Lakes Region semifinals and earned a 23-7 record. QU also competed in the event in He was named the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Coach of the Year four times. Hawkins first broke into the collegiate profession at the University of South Alabama, where he worked for three seasons ( ) under head coach Mike Hanks as a student assistant. After spending the campaign as a graduate assistant at Quincy, Hawkins spent the next two seasons as the top assistant coach at St. Andrew s College (NAIA) in Laurinburg, N.C. He then returned to Quincy as an assistant coach for one season ( ) before assuming the head coaching duties in At the age of 19, Hawkins was named the junior varsity coach at Villanova Prep High School (Ojai, Calif.), a position he held for two seasons. He followed that experience with a one-year stint as the junior varsity coach at St. Bonaventure High School (Ventura, Calif.) before moving from the West Coast. Hawkins earned his bachelor s degree at South Alabama in 1987 and went on to claim his master s degree in sports science two years later at the United States Sports Academy. Hawkins married the former Lana Widman in The couple resides in Kalamazoo WESTERN MICHIGAN BASKETBALL 35

3 The Hawkins File Coaching Experience Years Position School 2003-present Head Coach Western Michigan 2004 NCAA Tournament 2005 NIT Back-to-back MAC West championships Most wins in WMU history during (26) Assistant Coach Western Michigan Head Coach Quincy career record Three NCAA Tournament berths Illinois D-II Coach of the Year four times Assistant Coach Quincy Assistant Coach St. Andrew s Graduate Assistant Quincy Student Assistant South Alabama Personal Born: August 3, 1962 Hometown: Ventura, Calif. Family: Wife (Lana) Education: South Alabama (1987) United States Sports Academy (Masters-1989) What They Are Saying About Coach Hawkins Steve is a great teacher who works well with young people. He did a great job working our summer camps when he was a young coach and it was obvious he had the potential to be an outstanding coach. He is a very likeable person who I am sure will enjoy continued success. John Wooden former UCLA head coach With Steve Hawkins at the helm, Western Michigan is one of the top teams in the Mid-American Conference with a growing national profile. He is a fantastic teacher of the game of basketball and does an excellent job of maximizing the strengths of his players and incorporating that into a team concept. His players show marked improvement from year-to-year because of his teaching ability. The Broncos will remain a part of the discussion for championships in the MAC and much more with Hawk leading the way. Steve Lavin ESPN college basketball analyst former head coach, UCLA I love Coach Hawk to death. He is definitely a players coach. He adjusts to the players and lets you be yourself both on the court and off the court. Coach finds a way to let the players personalities shine on and off the court. I think that s why we were able to win so many games once he took over and that s why I loved playing for him. Ben Reed WMU Class of 2005 One of the best experiences of my life was playing at Western Michigan for Coach Hawkins. He s extremely knowledgeable about the game, plus he s straightforward with his players and genuinely cares about them as players and people. I couldn t have asked for a better situation for my college basketball career. Brian Snider WMU Class of 2006 I loved playing for Coach Hawkins. He is a players coach who gives you the freedom offensively needed to develop as an individual while also staying in a successful team concept. He is the best coach I have ever played for. Mike Williams WMU Class of 2004 former MAC regular season and tournament MVP What Coach Hawkins has meant to my family and me is indescribable. He was not only the best basketball mind that I have ever been around, but also has evolved into my best friend. There has never been a time in my life that coach has not been there for me. His love and loyalty to his players and those around him is what separates him from the rest and that is why playing for him was the single best decision I ever made in my life. Matt Steffe Quincy Class of 1998 I am extremely pleased to have Coach Hawkins as our Bronco head basketball coach. Steve has been an instrumental member of our Bronco team for several years. He is passionate about the welfare of our studentathletes and his enthusiasm for the program is contagious. He also holds a tremendous amount of respect for our players and is committed to providing a positive learning environment in the classroom and on the court. Kathy Beauregard WMU Director of Athletics Steve and Lana Hawkins WESTERN MICHIGAN BASKETBALL

4 Q&A With Coach Hawkins Q: What is the ideal Western Michigan basketball player? A: The most important thing we look for in a Western Michigan basketball player is toughness, both mentally and physically. I think the worst thing you can say about a player is that he is soft or selfish. Those are two things we are hyper-sensitive to in the recruiting process and if a player exhibits either of those qualities, we don t proceed. Overall, the thing we tell the kids is that the ideal Bronco is a beast on the court and a perfect gentleman off the court. Q: What are your goals and expectations for the upcoming season? A: I don t get caught up in numbers. I got this from Coach Wooden, but my goals for the team are the same every year and that is to be as good a team as we can possibly be. What that means from a record standpoint, I don t know. There is a ceiling out there about how good we can be and how much we can accomplish. It s my goal to get this team to reach that ceiling. Q: Do you try to focus on certain geographic areas when it comes to recruiting? A: With the success we have had, our program is at the point where it doesn t matter where the players come from. We re looking for specific players who fill specific needs for our basketball team. However, we do not want to let great local talent, that we need, get away. David Kool is a great local player who we are very excited to have kept in West Michigan. If there are other players locally that we have a need for, we want to take advantage of that. In fact, I feel that our roster right now is decidedly local with 11 of our 14 players hailing from within two and a half hours of Kalamazoo. Q: Last year, the Broncos had three of the five representatives on the Academic All-MAC Team and Joe Reitz was the first Academic All- District pick for WMU in over 10 years. How important is academics to the Bronco program? A: Academics is not just something we pay lip-service to because it s something we take a lot of pride in. You can t pay me enough money to take a bunch of knuckleheads on the road and be worried about what might happen or get several s from professors saying a kid missed class. That s why we recruit kids with high character, and high character doesn t necessarily mean high grades, but it means there is an acceptance of learning what it means to be a responsible adult. Furthermore, If I bring in a kid who helps me win a lot of games, but I don t worry about how he does in the classroom, all I ve done is use a kid for my own gain and that s something I m never going to be a part of. I think that is part of the reason every one of our kids has graduated, is on pace to graduate or is playing professionally. Q: What are your thoughts on this year s schedule? A: This is the toughest schedule we ve attempted in the seven years I ve been a part of Bronco basketball. I ve always thought your schedule is reflective of the type of team you hope to have. If we can win some of our high-profile games early and take care of business in the MAC, we should be in the postseason conversation and at a minimum our schedule will prepare us for conference play. I think a schedule like this also helps recruiting because real players want to be challenged and have a chance to play against top competition. Q: Have you ever had a team with no seniors and what is that like? A: This is the first time in my coaching career I ve ever been associated with a team that has no seniors, however, even with no seniors we have more experience than last year s team had. We re still young by any measure, but we have more players with significant game experience. I expect all the bumps in the road we experienced last year will begin to pay dividends this season. Q: With no seniors, where do you expect the leadership on the team to come from? A: I think the leaders of this team are yet to be determined because it s something that will evolve over the course of the season. Leadership has to be earned through hard work otherwise the other players won t respect you. I ve had guys who didn t get a lot of playing time be voted captain by their teammates because of how hard they worked. I have my suspicions about who our leaders might be, maybe a guy like Joe (Reitz) because he is a hard worker, has experience and doesn t mind being vocal, but some other guys could step up as well. Q: Last year, the team was looking for a go-to-guy, but this year the team has a legitimate Player of the Year candidate in Joe Reitz. What kind of impact does having a player like that have on the team? A: Joe goes into this season with a legit target on his back. Every scouting report of Western Michigan is going to begin with Joe Reitz. It s a great luxury though, to have a big guy that can control the paint and make defenses concerned about guarding the paint to open things up on the perimeter. Joe s ability also presents challenges to the coaching staff. We have to make sure the scouting report that starts with Joe Reitz, doesn t end with Joe Reitz. We have to make sure we have enough other weapons to take advantage of the other team s focus on Joe. We ve also got to become much more creative in getting him the ball in a position where he can do something positive with it. Q: What are your thoughts on the Mid-American Conference this season? A: My take on the MAC is that the teams with the most talent don t always win and the teams with the most experience don t always win. The team that best combines talent and experience, however, almost always wins because that is a lethal combination in this league. Last year, I think the league was a little bit down because there were a lot of young teams. Now everyone is a year older, including us, and I think that s going to make the MAC stronger WESTERN MICHIGAN BASKETBALL 37

5 Clayton Bates C l a y t o n Bates is beginning his seventh season as an assistant coach at Western Michigan where he has played an integral role in the revitalization of the Bronco program. Bates is one of the most experienced coaches in the Mid-American Conference and has established himself as both an excellent coach and a top recruiter. Bates focuses his on-court attention on the Bronco big men and contributes selected scouting assignments. He serves as the program s academic liaison and also helps to supervise the team s recruiting efforts. His latest prized pupil is center Joe Reitz, who was named Second Team All- MAC in 2006 after being named to the MAC All-Freshman Team in Under his direction, big men Mike Williams, Anthony Kann and Levi Rost also developed into allconference caliber performers. Williams was named the MAC Player of the Year and Kann was tabbed to the allleague squad each of his final two years. Rost was named Second Team All-MAC in In , forward Steve Reynolds claimed Second Team All-MAC accolades following the arrival of Bates. The Broncos have also been successful in the classroom under Bates oversight. Joe Reitz became the first WMU men s basketball player since 1993 to earn Academic All-District honors and three of the five players on the 2006 Academic All-MAC Team were Broncos with Brian Snider finishing his career as a two-time Academic All-MAC selection. Bates played at the University of Florida ( ) under head coach Lon Kruger. In 1997, Bates joined Kruger at the University of Illinois where he served as the team s administrative assistant for one season. The Illini advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament that year. Following his one-year stint at Illinois, Bates returned to his native Florida after he was hired at Jacksonville University as an assistant coach, a position he held for three seasons. While working with JU, he was responsible for all aspects of the dayto-day operation of the program, with the exception of off-campus recruiting. As a player, Bates was a member of the Gators Final Four squad in 1994 and 1995 NCAA Tournament team a year later. A walk-on who later earned a full scholarship, the Gainesville, Fla., native was named Florida s Most Inspirational Player following the season. He was just the seventh Florida studentathlete in school history to be named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll on three occasions. Bates was the Fred Koss Assistant Coach 7th Season at WMU Florida, 1995 Clayton and Annemarie Bates with daughters Annelyse (standing) and Sydney. Memorial Award winner in That award is given to the player who displays the highest levels of sportsmanship, dedication and commitment to the team and community during his career. A member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Bates has served on the Assistant Coaches Board of Directors since Bates graduated from UF with a bachelor s degree in exercise physiology (1995) and completed his master s work in sports administration (1997) at Illinois. Bates married the former Annemarie Mernagh, an All-Big East volleyball player at Pittsburgh and former WMU assistant volleyball coach, in May of The couple s first child, Annelyse, was born in October of 2003 and second daughter, Sydney, was born in July of Coaching Experience 2003-pres. Assistant Coach WMU 2003 Assistant Coach South Florida Assistant Coach WMU Assistant Coach Jacksonville Graduate Assistant Illinois WESTERN MICHIGAN BASKETBALL

6 Cornell Mann Entering his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Broncos and sixth overall in the Mid-American Conference, Cornell Mann has already established himself as one of the top assistants in the league. During his short tenure at both WMU and Central Michigan, Mann has played a large role in leading both programs to MAC titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. After helping CMU to the championship in 2003, he returned to postseason play with the Broncos in Very familiar with the Mid- American Conference, Mann has not only coached at CMU and WMU, but he also spent three seasons ( ) as a player at the University of Akron. Mann focuses his coaching efforts on the Bronco perimeter corps while also contributing selected scouting reports throughout the course of the Assistant Coach 4th Season at WMU Akron, 1995 campaign. He will use his valuable coaching experience in the region to help supervise the program s recruiting efforts. Mann has been one of the top recruiters in the state of Michigan since joining the ranks of MAC coaches. Last season, point guard Brian Snider led the MAC in assists and steals on his way to being named Honorable Mention All-MAC. Under Mann s tutelage, Snider finished his career second all-time in assists and sixth in steals. Under his direction in , Ben Reed and Reggie Berry developed into a pair of the league s top players. Reed was named First Team All-MAC and Berry captured the MAC Sixth Man of the Year award. Reed returned to the first team in and the senior guard tandem of he and Rickey Willis was among the best in the MAC. While in Mt. Pleasant, Mann played a key role in the development of the program, which was highlighted by a MAC Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in CMU went on to drop Creighton in the opening round before falling to Duke. Prior to his arrival at CMU, Mann spent a pair of campaigns as the head coach at Oak Park High School near Detroit. During his tenure he was also an assistant coach with the Michigan Mustangs (17-and-under) AAU team. Mann s collegiate experience also includes assistant coaching stops at Colby Community College in Colby, Kansas ( ) and Elmira College in Elmira, N.Y. ( ). At Colby CC, he was the interim head coach for the season. The Royal Oak Township native was an all-state performer at Ferndale High School, where he earned league MVP accolades and a nomination to the McDonald s High School All-America Team. He headed to the University of Colorado upon graduation and was a member of the 1991 National Invitation Tournament Final Four squad. Mann transferred to Akron for his final three years of eligibility and was named the program s top defensive player while ranking among the league leaders in steals. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in family development from Akron in Mann has one son, Maliq (5). Cornell Mann and his son, Maliq. Coaching Experience 2003-pres. Assistant Coach WMU Assistant Coach Central Michigan Head Coach Oak Park HS Assistant Coach Colby CC Assistant Coach Elmira College WESTERN MICHIGAN BASKETBALL 39

7 Jeff Dunlap Third year assistant coach Jeff Dunlap s addition to the Bronco coaching staff prior to the campaign gives WMU one of the most experienced and respected groups in the league. A proven and successful recruiter who has signed several all-conference and All-America caliber players, Dunlap s contacts and experience range from coast-to-coast. His arrival in the Mid- American Conference marks his fourth stop (Southeastern, Big West, Horizon) in a respected NCAA Division I league. Dunlap will focus his on-court efforts on the Bronco perimeter players and also contribute selected scouting assignments. He is in charge of the program s scheduling responsibilities and helps supervise all of the program s recruiting efforts. Dunlap lends his expertise in camp administration, serving as co-director of the Bronco summer camp schedule. An 18-year veteran of the coaching ranks, Dunlap was an assistant at the University of Georgia prior to his second stop in Chicago. While with the Bulldogs, the program claimed the league s Eastern Division title and made a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. Hawkins and Dunlap first met at the age of 17 while both were working summer camps hosted by legendary former UCLA coach John Wooden. The pair remained in contact throughout the years and Hawkins eventually hired Dunlap at Quincy University prior to the campaign. While at QU, he helped guide the team to three NCAA Division II Tournament appearances from as the recruiting coordinator and an assistant coach. Those squads featured a trio of All-America selections, recruited to campus by Dunlap and Hawkins. In addition to stints at Cal State- Fullerton, Georgia and College of the Canyons, Dunlap helped Loyola ( ) to its best finish in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in nearly 15 years. Serving as the associate men s head coach, he helped direct College of the Canyons to back-to-back conference championships. The women s squad, of which he was the head coach, earned a spot in the state s elite eight tournament. Prior to Loyola, he was the first assistant at Fullerton College for one year, helping the team to a 25-7 record. Assistant Coach 3rd Season at WMU UCLA, 1986 Dunlap is also the founder and director of the California-based Complete Player Basketball Camp, which he runs with former UCLA teammate Jack Haley, who is now with FOX Sports. Throughout his career, Dunlap has gained additional coaching experience by participating in several basketball camps including the Superstar Invitational, John Wooden and Pat Riley camps. Dunlap earned a bachelor s degree in political science from UCLA in 1986 and a master s in education from Azusa Pacific University in As a student-athlete at UCLA, he was the recipient of the Outstanding Senior Award. Dunlap was a three-year letterman for the Bruins from and was a member of the 1985 NIT Championship team, playing under Larry Farmer and Walt Hazzard. Dunlap married the former DeeDee Hinson in The couple s first child, Brady Douglas, was born in September of Jeff and DeeDee Dunlap with their son, Brady. Coaching Experience 2004-pres. Assistant Coach WMU Assistant Coach Loyola (Ill.) Assistant Coach Georgia Assistant Coach Loyola (Ill.) Assistant Coach Fullerton Assistant Coach Cal-St. Fullerton Assistant Coach Quincy Head/Assoc. Coach Coll. of the Canyons Asst. Varsity/Head JV Coach North Hollywood HS WESTERN MICHIGAN BASKETBALL

8 Jason Larson Jason Larson is beginning his second season as coordinator of basketball operations for the Broncos. Larson is responsible for coordinating WMU s video exchange with opposing teams in addition to assisting with all of the day-today operations of the program. He will also focus his efforts on aiding Coordinator of Basketball Operations 2nd Season at WMU Grand Valley State, 2004 with practice s e s s i o n s, super vising the team s corps of m a n a g e r s and handling all team travel arrangements. Larson comes to Kalamazoo from Grand Valley State where he spent five years as a member of the Lakers basketball program. Larson was an assistant coach during the season after spending the previous four seasons as a student assistant. Larson has also been active working the summer camp circuit. He has been an instructor at Western Michigan, Michigan, Oakland and Grand Valley State. Larson played basketball and football for four years at Manistee High School where he was an all-wwac honoree in football. Larson graduated from Grand Valley State in the summer of 2004 with a bachelor s of arts degree in broadcasting with a Spanish minor. Larson is currently working on obtaining his MBA from Western Michigan. LaTonja Wilson An employee at Western Michigan University since 1995, LaTonja Wilson is in her seventh season with the men s basketball program. Wilson plays a critical role in the day-to-day operations of the office and has recently added the women s basketball program to her responsibilities as well. Included in Wilson s duties are maintaining the recruiting databases for recruits, assisting with team travel, processing all financial paperwork, supervising student workers and serving as the secretary for the Fast Break Club (men s booster group). Wilson is close to obtaining a bachelor s degree in human resource management from the Western Michigan Business College. Previous to her move to athletics, Wilson worked on campus in the employment services division of human resources. Wilson and her husband, Alonzo (also an employee at WMU) have three children; Alonzo II (15), Alonja (9) and Alonte (4). Office Assistant 12th Season at WMU WESTERN MICHIGAN BASKETBALL 41