hawkins was born in ventura, california. following his graduation from high school, hawkins spent time as a high school basketball coach in the los angeles area at villanova preparatory school and st. bonaventure high school during the early 1980s. during this time he worked as an assistant at ucla basketball camps, serving as chauffeur for legendary bruins coach john wooden. while the two were stuck in traffic, they were able to talk basketball. hawkins maintained the ucla connection during his coaching career, often having wooden speak to his teams at quincy and western michigan. former ucla head coach larry farmer, would later work for hawkins as an assistant coach at western michigan from 2010–12 and again from 2013 until the present.