The ultimate teacher is back in the game
New London
It has been suggested that the greatest teachers endure through inspiration, evidenced by what one philosopher once said of the noblest vocation:
"Teachers affect eternity. They can never tell where their influence stops."
This is where you begin with Scott Hawk. The Teacher. The best. Period. Retire the trophy. And how fortunate we are that Coach Hawk, as he's known to many of us, is back inspiring and influencing our people.
Scott Hawk, once the 10-year assistant coach with the Connecticut Sun, is back in the sport he loves. Now at Coast Guard Academy, working with the women's basketball program. Hawk, so helpful under multiple-time WNBA Coach of the Year Mike Thibault, sits next to a younger maestro now, Alex Ivansheck, who has the Bears in the conference tournament semifinals Saturday at Springfield College.
Hawk, still rumpled, still professorial, still deadpanning the day away, has a new audience. But the same results.
"He has so much experience. I'm amazed we got him," freshman center Gill Gerton said Wednesday night, after Coast Guard hit MIT over the head with a math book in the quarterfinals. "The fact that he's here with us, I'm kind of star struck as if he was a celebrity himself. He has so much basketball IQ. He can tell you where to go on the court, based on where he believes the imaginary defense is going to be. When you translate that to a game, you get wide open looks."
Nearly 10 years earlier now, former Sun great and WNBA veteran Taj McWilliams-Franklin said this about Hawk:
"We were part of the rookie class here (in 2003) when coach Hawk came right from high school," McWilliams-Franklin said. "He taught me how to seal in the post. How to cut off defenders. How to run to the block. Players who are my age might think there's nothing else to learn.
"I was taught things by Scott Hawk that I've taken everywhere else I've played," McWilliams-Franklin said. "It says a lot about somebody that comes from high school to have earned all the respect and gratitude he has by so many players."
The Teacher found Coast Guard through graduate Sam Cheung, one of the all-timers in men's basketball lore and legend at the Academy, who still works with the program in Operations and Research. Hawk, whose ego can fit on the back of a gnat, hit it off immediately with Ivansheck, who is smart enough to surround herself with good people.
"From day one," Ivansheck said, "he's been all 'What can I do to help?' That's the type of person he is. He never makes you feel like you don't know anything. It's the way he communicates and explains things. He could easily say, 'I've coached here' and 'I've done this.' Not him."
Thibault, now coaching the Washington Mystics, met Hawk while coaching the Omaha Racers in the Continental Basketball Association. Hawk coached boys at Creighton Prep and girls at Bellevue West in Nebraska. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Hawk was soon helping at Thibault's camp and evaluating players.
"What I noticed was his ability to teach," Thibault said Thursday. "That's important. I know people focus on things like recruiting for coaches now. But Scott had an instinct. He knows people learn in different ways. And communicates it well."
Much of it through humor. Ask any Connecticut Sun veteran about "Hawkisms" and they chuckle. Personal favorite: Hawk was walking past Amber Holt, a former Sun player who was quieter than Marcel Marceau, one day after practice. He never broke stride, walked past Holt and said, "Nice chattin' with ya, Amber."
Gerton: "Every time he walks in the gym, we caw because he's a Hawk."
Ivansheck: "People often ask how the girls relate to him. They like him more than me. They give him the hawk call. Their relationship is amazing with him."
Hawk was awash in the great quarterfinal win the other night, laughing it away with the other coaches, not thrilled with talking about himself. We got this much:
"I'm grateful for the opportunity. They've been nice to me," he said. "Alex has been very good about working with my schedule (he works in the Guilford school system). I enjoy working with good people. Alex does a hell of a job. She knows what she wants and what she wants the program to be. I try to provide what I can. I provide ideas. Like I told Mike, 'you don't have to listen. You're not going to hurt my feelings.'"
Later, he acknowledged that he tells jokes older than Ivansheck, who isn't much north of 30.
"I'm not smart but I'm old enough to have been around," Scott Hawk said. "I'm not here all day. The other coaches do the heavy lifting. I'm like the uncle at Thanksgiving that comes in and tells a story once in a while."
This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.
Twitter: @BCgenius
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.