Long Beach State University Athletics
Hawks Hired as Top Assistant for Men's Volleyball
9/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Sept. 24, 2008
LONG BEACH--Long Beach State Men's Volleyball announced that John Hawks, a former assistant at USC and UC Irvine, and a member of the USA Volleyball national coaching staff, was hired as the team's top assistant coach.
"He is one of the really good young coaches in the country," said ninth year Head Coach Alan Knipe, who was named Volleyball Magazine's National Coach of the Year in 2008. "He has a great deal of experience, from high school, club, and the national junior and youth programs. He's a local guy from Huntington Beach and my personal belief is that he's one of the best recruiters I have seen in the last 10 years. He's only going to make us better."
Hawks spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons at USC as the top assistant coach and four years at UC Irvine (2003-06). During his four years at UC Irvine, the Anteaters won 70 matches (more than the program's first 11 years combined), and qualified for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships three times. He was on the sidelines during the 2006 season, when UCI won the program's first conference title, led the nation in wins (27-5) and reached the National Semifinals after spending eight weeks at No. 1.
Hawks has coached with both Knipe, and 49er assistant Andy Read, while with the national program.
This past June, Hawks was an assistant for Knipe with the U.S. National Team at the Pan American Cup in Winnipeg, Canada. The Americans won Gold over Canada, qualifying them for the America's Cup in September, 2008. He was also an assistant under Andy Read and the Boy's Youth Team, which went undefeated at the NORCECA Youth Continental Championship en route to the Gold Medal and qualification into the 2009 FIVB World Championship.
Hawks also served as the head coach at the 2006 USA Volleyball Boys' Select A2 Training Camp, and was an assistant coach for the 2006 Men's Junior A2 Team and 2007 Junior National team. The Junior team finished seventh at the World Championship, while the World University team won Bronze.
He began his career as an assistant coach at Grossmont Junior College, where he also played, from 1995 to 1997.
He was the head boys coach at Santa Margarita High from 2001 to 2002, after serving four years as an assistant coach. The Eagles went undefeated in 2001, winning the CIF Sectionals, before reaching the semifinals the next year. He was named the 2001 CIF South Sectional Coach of the Year and the Orange County Register Coach of the Year.
Hawks spent five seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, Edison High (1990-94) and moved onto assistant coaching duties at San Dieguito High (1995) and Francis Parker High (1996). Both squads won CIF San Diego Sectional Championships in 1995 and 1996. He moved onto Santa Margarita High (1997-2000), assisting the boys (1997-2000) and girls (1997-99) squads. The boys won a pair of CIF sectional titles (1997-98) and the girls won three (1997-99). The girls team won the 1999 state championship, after ranking second in the nation in 1997 and 1998.
On the club level he coached the Balboa Bay Club for nine years (1996-2006), as his club team won seven medals at the Junior Olympics (1998, 2000-03, 2005-06), including Gold in 1998 and 2000, and silver in 2005. He was also a coach for the Seaside Volleyball Club (1995-97), winning Gold in 1997 and a Bronze in 1995. Twenty-five All-Americans played for him since 1995.
Hawks received an associate's degree from Grossmont Junior College in 1994 and also attended San Diego State.
