John Hawks Named USC Men's Volleyball Assistant Coach
June 05, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
June 5, 2006
John Hawks, an assistant coach the past four years with the UC Irvine men's volleyball team, has been named an assistant with the USC men's squad, new Trojan head coach Bill Ferguson announced today (June 5).
"I'm very excited and pleased that John is joining our staff," said Ferguson. "He's one of the best young coaches in our sport. His recruiting ties in Orange County and his coaching experience, including helping his team get to this year's Final Four, will help us immeasurably."
Hawks, 36, helped the Anteaters' to a historic 2006 campaign. In 2006, they won the school's first-ever Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, posted a program-record 27-5 mark (the most wins in the nation), had a 21-match winning streak, spent eight weeks ranked No. 1 and advanced to the NCAA Championship semifinal match for the first time while producing four All-Americans and the National and MPSF Coach, Player and Newcomer of the Year.
During his four years (2003-06) at UC Irvine, the Anteaters won 70 matches (more than the program's first 11 years combined), qualified for the MPSF playoffs three times and finished with three national Top 10 rankings. The year before he arrived, UCI finished 10th in the MPSF.
He also is serving as the head coach of the 2006 USA Volleyball Boys' Select A2 National Training Camp squad and as an assistant coach of the 2006 USA Volleyball Men's Junior National A2 team.
Hawks began his coaching career at the high school level. He spent five seasons (1990-94) as an assistant at his alma mater, Edison High in Huntington Beach (Calif.), then moved on as an assistant at San Dieguito High in Encinitas (Calif.) in 1995 and Francis Parker High in San Diego (Calif.) in 1996 as both squads won the CIF San Diego championship.
He then became an assistant at Santa Margarita High in Rancho Santa Margarita (Calif.) for four years, working with both the boys (1997-2000) and girls (1997-1999) teams. Santa Margarita's boys won a pair of CIF Southern Section titles (1997-98), while the girls won three CIF-SS crowns (1997-99) while capturing the 1999 state championship (the girls were second in the state in 1997 and 1998).
He became the boys head coach at Santa Margarita the next two seasons (2001-02), as the Eagles went undefeated in 2001 and won the CIF-SS title (they were semifinalists in 2002). He was the 2001 CIF-SS Coach of the Year and Orange County Register Orange County Coach of the Year.
Hawks also was a successful club coach, including with the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club for nine years (1998-2006). At the Junior Olympics, his BBVC teams won gold medals in 1998 and 2000, a silver in 2005, bronzes in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006, and placed fifth in 2004 and ninth in 1999. He also was with the Seaside Volleyball Club from 1995 to 1997, guiding teams to a gold medal in 1997, a bronze in 1995 and a ninth place finish in 1996. He had 25 All-Americans play for him since 1995.
Hawks also has worked as an engineer in the medical equipment industry since 2000.
He prepped at Edison High, where he played volleyball, soccer and football.
He attended San Diego State after obtaining an associate's degree from Grossmont Junior College in La Mesa (Calif.) in 1994, where he played volleyball that season. He then was an assistant coach with the Grossmont men's team for 3 seasons (1995-97).
He was born on Dec. 26, 1969.
