Former Rebel Justin Hawkins gets break into college coaching

By Taylor Bern

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016 | 2 a.m.

The first thing Justin Hawkins had to learn when he transitioned from basketball player to coach was that not everybody plays with the same intensity as a Division-I player — especially on the freshman team.

“I learned that I had to be very patient, explain every single detail in more ways than one because kids might learn differently,” said Hawkins, a former Rebel who spent the past two years on the Liberty High staff.

Patience has paid off for Hawkins, who this year will move up to the collegiate level as the video specialist for Pacific. Next week he’ll travel with first-year coach Damon Stoudamire and the rest of the team for their international trip to Germany and Croatia.

“I can finally say that I’m starting my career,” Hawkins said.

A Los Angeles native, Hawkins averaged nearly 20 minutes per game over four seasons at UNLV. He averaged 5.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1. 3 assists per game while often guarding the opponents’ best perimeter player.

Hawkins’ playing career ended in 2013, after the Rebels’ fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament ended with a fourth straight first-round loss. Now that he’s back in the college game, though, Hawkins could eventually find himself in the tournament once again.

Moving up the ranks was the result of plenty of footwork around Las Vegas during March, when four conferences host their postseason tournaments here. Hawkins, who primarily led Liberty’s freshman team his first year and then assisted the Patriots’ varsity squad last year, went around and made it known he was ready for the next challenge.

“Networking, really,” Hawkins said. “Right place, right time.”

Between his two coaching staffs at UNLV, led respectively by Lon Kruger and Dave Rice, plus the group at Compton Magic, Hawkins’ summer basketball team, Hawkins has had plenty of people available for advice. And those people were able to vouch for Hawkins when Stoudamire took an interest and encouraged Hawkins to attend the Final Four so they could talk further.

That led to the job offer that will see Hawkins handling a lot of the grunt work necessary to keep a program running smoothly day-to-day. His main duties will be to break down practice film, game film, put together scouting reports and “whatever else they need me to do here,” Hawkins said.

Rice coached Hawkins during his last two seasons, and during that time it was clear to the former Rebels coach that they could one day work in the same profession.

“I always believed he had a future in coaching if he decided to pursue it,” Rice said. “He has used his strong academic background, successful basketball playing career and coaching at Liberty High School to prepare him for this opportunity.”

Stoudamire, who was the 1996 NBA Rookie of the Year, is a first-time college coach at Pacific after working his way up the ranks since ending his playing career in 2008. Now he’s another guy who Hawkins will study under while cutting his teeth in the coaching world.

“I have a lot to learn in this business,” Hawkins said. “If I can just learn from them, take what they know and adapt it to me, the possibilities are endless.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.