OPINION |
Following a tough conference loss during the 2012 season — time has blurred my memory as to the opponent — Missouri State freshman shortstop Joey Hawkins gave his first newspaper interview. The rookie handled it like so many ground balls he would field during his four-year career.
I remember thinking at the time how polished this kid from Canada was, the honesty of his answers and the eye contact he made while saying the Bears needed to play with accountability in order to reach their goals.
That team, with future big leaguers Luke Voit and Pierce Johnson, did get it together and went on to break a nine-year NCAA Tournament drought. It was a sign of bigger things to come, for both Hawkins and the Bears. By the time he was a senior, Hawkins was Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year as the 2015 team won a school-record 49 games and hosted an NCAA Regional that it won.
Not claiming that back in 2012 I thought Hawkins would wind up as the Bears’ head coach a dozen years later, but that first interview was an early tipoff that he had something special brewing. An older teammate agrees.
‘This guy has it figured out'
“When he came in as a freshman we loved how he carried himself and handled himself on the field, especially on the defensive end,” said Clay Murphy, a junior in 2012.
Even when Hawkins came to play against Missouri State during his senior high school season, with the Ontario Blue Jays touring team, Murphy said something stood out.
“We were like, ‘This guy has it figured out,’” Murphy said.
After three seasons as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, Hawkins was officially promoted to succeed Keith Guttin earlier this week. Guttin announced his retirement last fall with season No. 42 as his finale.
Hawkins now gets to shape the program in his image, though he doesn’t plan to bust the mold that Guttin forged. He talked about Guttin’s consistency in how he deals with people and situations day-to-day as the No. 1 trait he learned as a player and while coaching with the legend.
Former players don’t always go on and succeed as head coaches at their alma mater, but Hawkins seems a natural-born fit as just the third head coach in the program’s 60 years, following Guttin and Bill Rowe. He’s charismatic, smart and a leader from the beginning of his playing days.
Parents' trust in Guttin helped convince Hawkins to leave Canada
Though he’s a Canadian through and through, Hawkins said Springfield is now home. He recalled the recruiting process that brought him here that began after the Ontario Blue Jays’ fall visit to Hammons Field in the fall of 2010. He doesn’t recall speaking with Guttin or other members of the staff, but said “I maybe caught their attention.”
The next season, there was interaction and that continued as Guttin and assistants Paul Evans and Brent Thomas pitched him on the idea of coming to the Ozarks until signing day made it a reality.
“A big part of me coming here, my parents really trusted him,” Hawkins said of Guttin. “That was big. I remember talking with him on the phone a lot. He was really passionate about the program. The whole staff, coach Evans and Thomas and him, put in a lot of time helping me feel comfortable with the decision.
“The first time I came on campus with my parents before move-in day, we walked into ‘G’s’ office. He yelled really loud, ‘The eagle has landed!’ My parents got a good laugh out of that.”
Making his mark as a prolific bunter and team captain
Hawkins was a slick defender from the start, but a work in progress at the plate. He worked diligently to become a competent hitter, but made his biggest mark with the bat by laying down a school-record 62 career sacrifice bunts. It’s a mark not likely to be broken, as bunting has nearly gone the way of the dinosaur.
More importantly, he was a two-time team captain and is considered one of the great leaders in program history. That covered a bad season (26-31 in 2014) and one of the greatest a year later (49-12).
“The year before the awesome ’15 season, we were not very good,” Murphy said. “That was my fifth year and his junior year. He was a team captain along with me and that’s when I knew, ‘This guy’s got it. He’s gonna do really well as far as any leadership role he gets into, whether it’s coaching or anything else in life.’
“The following year, it made complete sense with him being a leader and them taking off. You could really see him coming into his own when he got older and stepped into more of a leadership role.”
Murphy said Hawkins did it with and without words.
“Certain guys have that certain quality,” Murphy said. “You can’t quantify it or whatever. It was just one of those things, just the way he carried himself. Kind of a silent observer who would speak when he needed to speak. He always said the right things at the right times, even as a young guy.”
Hawkins caught the coaching bug in pro ball
When Guttin made his retirement announcement last November, Murphy said he just assumed Hawkins would be the successor. It made too much sense to be anyone else.
Hawkins said eventually returning to succeed Guttin was never in his thoughts as a college player, though he knew coaching was in his blood when his brief professional playing career, in the Cardinals’ organization, ran its course with a stop at Double-A Springfield and his old Hammons Field stomping ground included.
“When I was in pro ball, I wasn’t a very good player and always coached first base when I didn’t play,” Hawkins said. “I love the profession. I love leading people. It’s not just players, it’s the staff and building a program. I’ve always had an interest in leadership, ever since I was in high school and for sure when I got here.”
After a season as an assistant at Jefferson College and another at Saint Louis University, Hawkins took a job as a minor-league coach with the Cardinals. He appeared to be on the fast track, trusted to oversee the organization’s top hitters during the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, at Hammons Field.
After helping develop future big leaguers like Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman, Hawkins coached the Cardinals’ rookie Class A team in the Gulf Coast League, then at Low-A Peoria. When Guttin had an opening at Missouri State following the 2021 season, Hawkins jumped at the opportunity.
‘The timing was right' to come back to Missouri State
That was the first time Hawkins thought that the stars might be aligning to eventually become the Bears’ baseball boss — though it wasn’t easy to say goodbye to a blooming pro coaching career. But the travel, plus the requirement to live away from family six months a year, was tough as Hawkins and wife Ashley were ready to start a family. They now have two children, daughter Kinsley and son Cooper.
“This was a pretty cool opportunity for me,” Hawkins said of coming back to Springfield three years ago. “The timing was right. I loved pro ball. I love the talent in pro ball. But like anything in life, you have to be in the right place at the right time and that’s what this opportunity was for me.
“You travel a lot in college, but six straight months away is tough. It was good for my family.”
‘I'm just going to be myself. That's what Coach Guttin taught me'
During three seasons as hitting coach, the Bears have ranked among the national leaders in home runs. “Joey Bunts,” his old nickname as a college player, has been retired.
Now with a new title, the 31-year-old Hawkins is fired up for the next phase of his coaching life. There will be challenges. Name, Image and Likeness and the transfer portal, a school-imposed roster cap of 30 for the foreseeable future and the move to Conference USA in 2026 all will be hurdles.
The program is a combined 137-153 since an NCAA Regional run in 2018, the fourth postseason appearance of that decade with only one (2022) since. Hawkins said he’s close to hiring a pitching coach to rebuild a staff that struggled mightily as the Bears finished 23-34 in the just-concluded season.
Guttin and Rowe are a phone call away if he has questions, but look for Hawkins to attack this challenge the same way he did as a freshman in 2012 — with poise, intelligence and determination.
“I won’t feel pressure,” Hawkins said. “I’m just gonna be myself. That’s what Coach Guttin taught me. That’s what we teach our players here. You can excel individually and be who you are.
“In recruiting and player development nowadays, it’s all about relationships. That starts with being authentic to who you are and not trying to be someone different because I have a different title.”
