Beginning his eighth season as head coach and 11th season at Western Michigan, Steve Hawkins has positioned the Broncos as one of the best teams in the Mid-American Conference and propelled WMU to 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 nine straight top-three MAC West finishes, the best mark in school history. In fact, over that nine-year span Western Michigan is one of only two schools in the conference to exhibit that kind of consistent success.

With seven years under his belt at WMU, Hawkins is included amongst the top coaches in MAC history. He is 72-46 in conference games for a .610 winning percentage, ninth all-time in league history. He is 124-99 overall for a .556 winning percentage, which is 17th in MAC annals. Furthermore, Hawkins has led the Broncos to back-to-back MAC West championships twice (2004-05 & 2008-09) in his seven years as head coach.

Thanks to the team’s efforts on the court, Bronco fans have been spoiled in recent campaigns with postseason appearances, all-conference players, attendance records and television appearances (62 regional or national broadcasts since 2003-04). The buzz about the Broncos was so high in 2007-08 that national television returned to University Arena for the first time since 2004 with WMU defeating in-state rivals Central Michigan, 72-52, and Eastern Michigan, 70-52, on ESPNU.

WMU had three-straight 20-win seasons and postseason appearances from 2003-05, matching the previous total in both categories since the first season of Bronco basketball in 1913-14.  The Broncos added another 20-win season in 2007-08 to give Hawkins’ credit for guiding four of WMU’s seven 20-win seasons (three as head coach, one as an assistant).

The 2009-10 season saw David Kool establish himself as the all-time leading scorer in WMU history and become Hawkins' second MAC Player of the Year and second AP All-American. Kool was also named to the Academic All-MAC squad for the third year in a row to become the fourth Hawkins' player to be a three-time Academic All-MAC honoree. Only one other MAC school has had one such athlete during the last seven seasons. Kool was tabbed as the MAC Player of the Decade by Rivals.com.

The Broncos defeated Northeastern, 75-60, on national television in the first Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. The Broncos played in an inaugural ESPN-sponsored tournament for the third time following the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., and the Charleston Classic in Charleston, S.C. Hawkins led the Broncos to their seventh top two finish in a row in the MAC West and the team reached the semifinals of the MAC Tournament. Freshman forward Nate Hutcheson joined Kool with postseason honors as the fourth newcomer of Hawkins' WMU career to make the MAC All-Freshman Team.

The 2008-09 season marked the second MAC West championship in a row and fourth in six years for the Brown & Gold, while junior David Kool became the first Bronco to lead the MAC in scoring since 1987 on his way to becoming ESPN the Magazine Third Team Academic All-America and Second Team All-MAC. The Broncos went 3-1 against in-state rivals Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan to win the Michigan MAC Men’s Basketball Championship for the fourth year in a row (the award has only existed for four years) and win the title outright for the third time in four years. Freshman forward Flenard Whitfield became the third newcomer of Hawkins’ tenure named to the MAC All-Freshman Team.

Kool’s Academic All-America honor gives Hawkins’ Broncos an Academic All-American in each of the last three seasons, a mark that has happened only two other times in MAC history (1976-78 Ohio, 1991-93 Miami).

The 2007-08 season saw Western Michigan live up to preseason expectations as they claimed the MAC West title for the fourth time in school history and reached 20 wins for the fourth time in the last six seasons. The Broncos were strong defensively as they led the MAC and ranked 37th in the country (out of 328) in field goal percentage defense (.407) and 84th in the country in scoring defense (65.0 ppg). WMU also ranked 15th in the country and led the MAC in free throw shooting (.753) and the team was 34th in the country and led the MAC in rebound margin (+4.9). For his efforts, Hawkins was named the MAC Coach of the Year by ESPN mid-major reporter Kyle Whelliston at MidMajority.com.

The Broncos were led by only the fourth pair of First Team All-MAC honorees in school history in senior center Joe Reitz and sophomore guard David Kool.  Reitz, one of Hawkins’ first recruits, finished his career with a MAC record for free throws made (576) and finished third all-time in points (1,713) and rebounds (939) and fourth in field goal percentage (.548) in a career. Reitz was also named to the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major All-America Team and signed a free agent contract with the National Football League’s Baltimore Ravens.

Reitz was also named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Second Team to become only the seventh player in conference history to be a two-time Academic All-American.

Kool was named the Most Valuable Player in the MAC by CollegeInsider.com as he led the league in scoring in conference games with 17.8 points per game. In his five seasons as head coach, Hawkins’ players have earned 21 all-conference selections.

Reitz and Kool were joined on the Academic All-MAC team by senior Andrew Hershberger to give WMU eight of the 16 nods on the team over the last three seasons. Reitz and Hershberger became the 18th and 19th players in school history to be three-time Academic All-MAC honorees and along with former Bronco Brian Snider (2004-06), Hawkins has coached the last three conference players to achieve that feat.   

Western Michigan posted a pair of premier wins during the season as they knocked off NCAA Elite Eight participant Davidson, 83-76, and perennial mid-major power Southern Illinois, 57-41. Davidson was ranked No. 25 in the country when WMU defeated the Wildcats for the Broncos first win against a ranked team since Dec. 19, 1984 (No. 5 DePaul, 65-64). The 2007-08 Broncos also ended a pair of streaks by winning at Detroit, 60-59, for the first time since 1974 and winning at Toledo, 69-55, for the first win there since 1998.  

Hawkins also was recognized in 2008 for his sense of style on the sidelines. He advanced to the final 16 of CollegeInsider.com’s Runway to the Fashionable Four. Along the way he defeated Florida coach Billy Donovan and Virginia Commonwealth (now at Alabama) head man Anthony Grant. Hawkins made another style run in 2010 to the Sensational 16, including a win over John Calipari of Kentucky.

The Broncos faced their most ambitious schedule yet during the 2006-07 campaign. Going into conference play, the Broncos had the fourth toughest strength of schedule in the country (CollegeRPI.com/Jan. 4). The Broncos played five teams that made the 2007 NCAA Tournament (Davidson, Miami-Ohio, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Indiana), postseason NIT champion West Virginia and three other NIT participants (Toledo, Marist, San Diego State).

The tough schedule saw Western Michigan make five national television appearances, including a victory over Virginia Tech on Thanksgiving Night at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., that turned out to be the best win by a MAC team all season, as the Hokies finished 34th in the final RPI. Only one other MAC team posted a win against a team ranked in the RPI Top 50.

The Broncos finished the year with three all-conference players, including MAC Freshman of the Year Kool. Reitz was named Second Team All-MAC for a second straight season and Shawntes Gary was named Honorable Mention All-MAC.

Even more impressive, Reitz was named an ESPN the Magazine First Team Academic All-American, the first Bronco in school history to ever earn that honor and only the seventh in MAC history. Reitz and Hershberger were also named Academic All-MAC for a second consecutive season and WMU has held down five of the 11 total spots on the last two Academic All-MAC teams.

During the spring of 2007, 2009 and 2010, the Broncos were honored as being in the top-10 percent of Division I men’s basketball programs by the NCAA in Academic Progress Rate (APR).

After three straight 20-win seasons, the Broncos struggled out of the gate during 2005-06, 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 Reitz and 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 1993.

After a record-setting first year as head coach in 2003-04, the Broncos followed with a 20-win campaign and National Invitation Tournament appearance in 2004-05. WMU became the first program ever to defend its MAC 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 2003-04, the highest 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,” has been a focal point for Hawkins during his tenure.

Highly respected in his profession, Hawkins will be a member of the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 voting panel for the sixth straight year and begins his second year as a member of the Regional Advisory Committee for the Division I NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

He has assembled one of the top coaching staffs not only in the 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 last 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 21-year veteran of the collegiate ranks, Hawkins captured his 200th career victory on Dec. 2, 2006, when WMU defeated previously unbeaten San Diego State, 84-73, at University Arena. 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 served for nine seasons as head coach of the basketball program at Quincy University in Illinois. The Ventura, Calif., native guided the Hawks to an overall record of 137-111, 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 (1994-95) Quincy advanced to the Great Lakes Region semifinals and earned a 23-7 record. QU also competed in the event in 1996-97.

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 (1985-87) under head coach Mike Hanks as a student assistant.

After spending the 1987-88 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 (1990-91) before assuming the head coaching duties in 1991-92.

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 (47/DOB: 8-3-62) 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 Kelly Wojciechowski on May 15, 2010 and they reside in Kalamazoo with Kelly's son Trey.