Hawking Asked to Stay On

Bob Hawking said Monday he has been offered a contract to return as men’s basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton.

“I’m still looking at details of the contract at this point,� Hawking said, adding that he plans to meet with Athletic Director John Easterbrook when Easterbrook returns this week from the NCAA tournament in San Antonio.

Hawking, whose three-year contract was due to expire today, declined to discuss details of the contract offer. Easterbrook, reached by phone from San Antonio, said he could not comment.

The Titans finished 12-16 last season but won their first game in the Big West postseason tournament since 1990. An 89-82 victory over Boise State, the third-seeded team in the Eastern Division, put Fullerton in the tournament’s semifinals for the first time since 1989.

Eastern Division champion Utah State defeated Fullerton, 65-56.

Hawking took over as coach on an interim basis for the 1994-95 season after Brad Holland left in September, 1993, after only two seasons to take the head coaching job at San Diego. Hawking’s first team was 7-20, 5-13 in the conference, and Easterbrook hired him as permanent coach with a three-year contract at the end of the season.