George Washington men's basketball coach Karl Hobbs, a former player at Connecticut, sticks up for his players as if he were one of them.
By: David Driver
Published: Holiday Issue, 2007

George Washington University men's basketball coach Karl Hobbs, like some other Division I coaches, is interviewed live after home games by his school's radio play-by-play announcer. His responses can be heard by fans who have just watched the game at the cozy, 5,000-seat Smith Center, where the Colonials have one of the best home records in the country in recent years.

Last season, following a win over Maryland-Baltimore County, Hobbs's response to a question from veteran announcer Byron Kerr did not focus on the 21-point win or a double-double turned in by current senior guard Maureece Rice that night. Instead, the former Connecticut point guard and Huskies assistant coach spent several seconds blasting a story that had appeared in the school newspaper the GW Hatchet following a 74-65 loss a few days earlier at USC.

The article ended with these lines: "When asked if the loss would continue to deflate his team, he spoke in his matter-of-fact tone that sets the inquisitor, in this case a reporter, in their place. "If you check our record, we haven't lost two games in a row for the last two or three years," "Hobbs said to Hatchet editor-in-chief Jake Sherman after the game.

Why should a veteran head coach, 3,000 miles and three days removed from a non-conference loss in early December, worry about a story in the student newspaper? That's just Hobbs being Hobbs, a coach sticking up for his team and creating an Us vs. The World mentality.

"You know what you are getting with Karl. He is ultra competitive. He is easy to deal with," said GW assistant coach Darrell Brooks, who has been with Hobbs all seven seasons at the Foggy Bottom campus a few blocks from the White House. "His off-the-court personality is nothing like on the court. He is laid back off the floor."

GW athletic director Jack Kvancz, who played hoops at Boston College under Bob Cousy, was the head basketball coach at Catholic University before he got into athletic administration. Kvancz said "brutally honest" may be too strong a term to describe Hobbs.

"He tells you the way it is, which I like a lot," said Kvancz, in his 13th year at GW after 12 years as the athletic director at George Mason. "I enjoy it because instead of spending one hour (on a certain issue) it takes just five minutes."

Mike McGee, who faced GW as an assistant at Richmond, said he admires the work Hobbs has done. "I think he is confident - not egotistical," said McKee, associate head coach at the University of Denver after two seasons guiding the Spiders.

"I respect the job he does. He recruits good players. He is competitive. He coaches them hard. But he does it with good sportsmanship."

Whether or not he is loved by everyone in the coaching fraternity, the 46-year-old Hobbs has "galvanized" the student body at GW, according to Brooks. Hobbs has visited students in the dorms at GW, which has the highest tuition in the nation and does not have a football team.

Winning has helped. Two seasons ago GW had the best regular-season record in the country. Last March, the Colonials won three games in three days at the Atlantic 10 tournament to earn a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament - a first for the school.

"It was just as gratifying. The end result was the same. At the end of the day that is exactly what we are striving for, an NCAA bid," said Hobbs, who entered his seventh season at GW with a record of 114-65 with the Colonials.

Junior forward Rob Diggs, from nearby Brandywine, Md., said Hobbs is clear-cut in his approach. There are four expectations when players join the program: come to win, improve as a player, prepare to play at the next level and get a degree. "Coach Hobbs knows what he wants," Diggs said.

Hobbs is respected by USA basketball, which named him as an assistant to the U-19 national team that took part in the world championships last summer in hoop crazy Novi Sad, Serbia. The head coach was Jerry Wainwright of DePaul and Drexel's Bruiser Flint, the other assistant. The roster included Michael Beasley (Kansas State), Stephen Curry (Davidson), Deon Thompson (North Carolina), Tajuan Porter (Oregon) and Damian Hollis (GW), a last-minute addition due to injury.

"It was an honor to be chosen as one of the coaches," Hobbs said. "Being in the assistant role, you are learning and spending all of that time talking about basketball, talking about different ways to attack pressure, for instance. That was my first experience with international basketball. I learned a lot."

The U.S. team defeated Serbia early in preliminary play, but Serbia won the gold medal game before a partisan crowd. The game was held in a northern part of the country that also hosted the European men's championships in 2005.

Said Wainwright, the former coach at Richmond and UNC-Wilmington: "Bruiser Flint and Karl Hobbs are both obviously beyond being up-and-coming stars. They're already stars but they're young guys, and I was fortunate enough to know them as players. They're also two of the most competitive people I've ever met."

Hobbs has enjoyed stability among his assistant coaches at GW. In addition to Brooks, Roland Houston, a former star for Rhode Island, is in his fourth season at GW. Greg Collucci, a former GW guard, is in his second season as full-time assistant after one as a graduate assistant.

The Connecticut connection certainly helped land Hobbs at GW. He played for the Huskies under coach Dom Perno, who is in his 10th season at GW with the current title of associate director of athletics/athletic development. Hobbs was an assistant at Connecticut under Jim Calhoun and helped recruit Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Caron Butler and Emeka Okafor to the Storrs campus. Kvancz also grew up in Connecticut.

Hobbs was a high school teammate with Patrick Ewing at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School near Boston. His high school coach was Mike Jarvis, who was the GW head coach from 1990 to 1998.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, who chaired the committee that picked the coaching staff for the national team said, "Karl Hobbs is one of the bright young coaches in college basketball."

Link to full article in SUMAG.com